By Yoneyama, 2021 November

Employment Insurance

Job security cannot be more important in this unstable business environment due to the Covid-19 pandemic.The government of Japan prioritizes policies and social systems for the stability and longevity of employment. One of their took kits is the Employment Insurance. Whenever an employer hires you in Japan, he or she has to make you insured by the Employment Insurance that is organized by the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare.

The rate of this insurance premium is as follows:

Category of business                            Your share of premium                    Your employer’s share

Agriculture, forestry, fishery

and sake brewery                                        0.4% of your pay                                  0.7% of your pay

Construction                                               0.4% of your pay                                  0.8% of your pay

All the other businesses                              0.3% of your pay                                  0.6% of your pay

If you fall under any of the following categories, you will not be covered by the Employment Insurance:

1. Your working hours are less than 20 hours per week.

2. The prospect of your employment period is less than 31 days.

3. You are a student of a university, Japanese language school or any other institution of higher education.

There are the following four kinds of benefits under the Japanese Employment Insurance:

1. Unemployment benefit

2. Education and training benefit

3. Child care leave benefit

4. Family care leave benefit

If you kept working in Japan being covered under the Employment Insurance, and get unemployed while you cannot immediately find your next job, you have a chance to receive the basic allowances of the Employment Insurance for a given period or until you get a new job whichever comes first.

Whether you are eligible for the basic allowances or not will be judged by your local Hello Work (Public Employment Security Office).

The flow of applying for the Employment Insurance’s basic allowances is as follows:

When it’s decided that you leave your current company, your employer submits your離職証明書（a form to certify that you left the company）to the Hello Work.

The form specifies the reason for your leaving either company’s convenience or benefit, or your own. The reason may dictate the length of the basic allowance payment.  Generally speaking, if the unemployment is caused by a company’s convenience, the payment could continue longer, while the other way around.

If you lose your job due to your company’s decision to restructure itself under a recession, it is for your employer’s convenience, while if you leave the company for your carrier-up or desire to move to a different spot of Japan, it’s obviously for your own benefit. Even if you decided to leave your company due to some very tough working environments or something like that, the Hello Work may judge the reason for a company’s convenience.

If your employer’s stated reason is different from your understanding, you may protest at the Hello Office for correction.

Then, you apply for new job openings at the Hello Work stipulating your job requirement and your strength and experiences.

If your record shows that you and your employer paid the Employment Insurance premium for more than 12 months out of the last 24 months (if the reason for your unemployment is due to the employer’s convenience or benefit, the requirement is reduced to more than 6 months out of the last 12 months), and if the Hello Work judges that you are seriously hunting your next job at the Hello Work, the office will conclude that you are entitled to the basic allowances.