There was some concern that, as Japan’s post-World War II baby-boom generation (born in the years of about 1947–50) reached retirement age and began retiring en masse in 2007, the skills of veteran workers would not be passed on to younger workers and the competence of the overall workforce would decline. This was debated above all by many private companies, especially among manufacturers. To address this problem, the Ministry of Health, Labor, and Welfare began a subsidy system to provide up to \5 million per company to transfer skills to younger workers at small and medium-sized businesses.