The number of consultations from people facing financial difficulties in Japan more than doubled in the first half of fiscal 2021 from the prepandemic level in 2019 according to preliminary data compiled by the welfare ministry.
The rise in April-September is a reflection of the rising number of consultations from those who lost their jobs or suffered pay cuts in a fifth wave of coronaviruses this past summer.
There were 307,072 consultations by 900 municipalities across the country in the same period, up from 124,439 in the same period in 2019 according to the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare.
During the fifth wave, Japan logged a record number of COVID 19 cases, prompting the government to issue a new state of emergency in several prefectures.
According to government data, 43,000 people had been laid off this year because of the pandemic.
With the number of infections of the Omicron variant rising, the ministry has called for local authorities to help people in need, such as helping them find accommodation, even during the year-end and New Year holiday when many public facilities close.
The employment situation in the last half of fiscal 2020 is showing signs of improvement and lodging and restaurant businesses that hire many female and non-regular workers are still hit heavily by the virus, as it was down from the first half of fiscal 2020.
When a person in need is in need, the localities request assistance via welfare offices as safety net measures before they need to be protected by authorities.
The number of consultations from women has gone up, said Koichi Kurosawa, senior official at the National Confederation of Trade Unions, representing about 1.2 million workers in Japan.
The number of suicide among men decreased in 2021 from a year earlier, but the number of women taking their lives has stayed the same level as previously reported by the National Police Agency.
A Tokyo-based nonprofit organization that caters to people in poverty said it has seen more people seeking food compared to last year, as the pandemic forced them to use up their savings or hit them mentally.
According to Ren Onishi, head of the NPO Moyai, there are people who don't understand that they are eligible to receive support because they have never experienced poverty before.