- “Introduction of satellite office and work from home,” and “Approval for second jobs”rank high for future initiatives - A “work style reform law” was enacted on April 1, 2019. This law will be applied to SMEs in some fields from April 2020, and the scope of its application will be expanded gradually. Companies are required to realize diverse and flexible work styles, ensure fair treatment, and also address elimination of labor shortage and productivity improvement. Therefor

～ Domestic economy has entered a recession phase, with manufacturing industry’s continuing downturn ～ （Companies researched: 23,652; Valid responses: 10,292; Response rate: 43.5%; Survey start date: May 2002) Overview of December 2019: Recession phase The economic diffusion index (DI) in December 2019 was 42.5, down 1.1 points from the previous month, and worsened for the third consecutive month in a row. Domestic economy seems to have entered a recession phase, although the