Photo/Illutration A jacket worn by city officials handling welfare benefits at the Odawara city government in Kanagawa Prefecture in 2017 sparked controversy. (Asahi Shimbun file photo)

Applications for welfare benefits have been rising sharply over the past five months since September, reflecting the continuing economic misery from the coronavirus pandemic, according to the labor ministry.

“More people are turning to welfare benefits as their savings have run out due to the prolonged bleak employment situation caused by the public health crisis,” a ministry official said.

There were 20,061 applications for welfare benefits in January, when a state of emergency was issued for the second time in Japan over the novel coronavirus, the ministry said this month.

The January figure represented a 7.2-percent increase year on year, marking the fifth consecutive month that saw a rise from the same month the previous year.

The applications in January marked the highest since September. The figure topped 20,000 for the first time since April last year, when the central government issued its first state of emergency.

Regarding months under the pandemic, the year-on-year increase was the largest in April 2020, at 24.9 percent, followed by March 2020, at 7.4 percent, and January, at 7.2 percent.

The Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare has been stepping up calls for the growing ranks of people in financial difficulties to seek welfare benefits, citing their eligibility in an effort to banish the social stigma against public assistance.

In January, 16,072 households across Japan began receiving welfare benefits, representing an 8.2 percent increase from the same month in 2020.

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