TOKYO, Jan. 22 (Xinhua) -- The Japanese labor ministry said Tuesday that it is disciplining officials involved in a scandal of faulty job data for more than a decade, and punishments have been implemented.

Labor minister Takumi Nemoto said he and his two deputies will return pay dating back to their appointments in October, and a senior official of the ministry, Toshihiko Suzuki, has been given a formal reprimand, for the wrong data causing severe underpayment of insurance involving 20 million people, local media reported.

The punishments were announced after an investigative committee said the scandal had violated Japan's statistics law.

The Japanese government admitted on Jan. 11 that it had failed to pay more than 53.7 billion yen (495.7 million U.S. dollars) in unemployment insurance, workers' compensation and sailors' insurance due to faulty job data.

The issue was revealed after the labor ministry was found to have published its monthly labor survey without collecting enough data.

The Japanese government said such practice has begun in 1996 and affects nearly 20 million people beginning in 2004. Enditem

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