For most of the postwar period Japan has enjoyed nearly full employment. One of the main forms of unemployment insurance has been a series of programs that pays companies to keep workers on their payroll during economic downturns when they might otherwise want to reduce their labor force. Paying companies to keep workers on the payroll means the employees maintain their social position and role in the company, and retain their company benefits. With a high value placed on lifetime employment security and strong job protection for workers, much of Japan’s unemployment is structural, due to the decline or loss of whole industries that are being phased out. Other unemployment arises because companies go bankrupt, leaving their workers without jobs. The Japanese government has developed some special programs to help workers cope with industry decline, which is often the result of government policy to phase out a particular industry such as coal mining. However, the benefits workers in the industry receive depend on their prior status as a regular or contract employee or the employee of a subcontracting firm. Aside from lump sum severance payments from the company to regular workers who lose their jobs, only a limited amount of government assistance is available as direct payments to the unemployed.