About 75 percent of company officials want the government to immediately begin a drastic reform of the social security system, according to an Asahi Shimbun survey.

The survey questioned 100 executives, each representing a different company.

Of these, 74 company officials said the measures being pursued under the pension reform legislation are inadequate to deal with the problem.

Given a choice of actions for pension reform, nearly 70 percent of the respondents selected ``comprehensive review of the overall social security system,'' far exceeding the number for other answers.

In a separate survey, the same group of 100 executives was asked to choose two priority issues facing the government's structural reform efforts. The largest number, 57, selected ``reform of the social security system, including public pension and medical care.''

The number was up 12 from the previous survey in June, indicating a growing number of businesspeople are concerned about the social security system.

Pollees who urged drastic pension reform were asked to elaborate.

``The way the ongoing reform is being implemented, the government is only delaying what it has to do now,'' said Shoji Mizuochi, vice president and officer in charge of finance at Bridgestone Corp.

``Unless you completely remove public anxiety about the future, you can't expect [personal consumption] to recovery fully,'' said Kiyofumi Kamijo, president of Tokyo railway operator Tokyu Corp.

A number of respondents expressed concern that pension premiums were becoming a growing burden on employers, who are required to match the individual payments of their workers.

Only 12 of the polled executives supported the current pension reform legislation.

These included Yasutaka Ito, president and chief executive officer of restaurant-chain operator Skylark Co., who said: ``Once a new system is adopted, the government should get on with it, because changing a system greatly affects the economy.''

Asked to choose two priorities for pension reform, 67 respondents cited ``a comprehensive review of the entire social security system,'' followed by 33 who called for ``stepping up of measures to address the hollowing out of the public pension system'' due to people failing to pay premiums and register for plans.

Twenty-six respondents called on the government to secure additional revenue by raising the consumption tax, while another 26 said it should streamline administrative processes.

The Liberal Democratic Party and New Komeito, the coalition partners, and opposition Minshuto (Democratic Party of Japan) in May agreed to set up a joint panel to discuss reform measures for the pension system. But since then, no progress has been made.

The survey also found that 38 respondents were against a health ministry proposal to expand the public nursing care insurance system to cover all people in need of nursing care and to lower the age at which individuals have to begin paying premiums.(IHT/Asahi: December 7,2004)