The government provides subsidies to promote non-regular workers’ career development. Companies may receive the subsidies by implementing measures to convert non-regular workers to regular employees or improve their treatment. The government made major changes in the program scope and subsidy amounts in April 2025 as outlined in this article.
[1] The course for contract conversion to regular employment
Career development subsidy program’s regular employee conversion course is applicable to cases of fixed-term employees converted to regular employees. The subsidy amount will be determined according to the type of worker from April 1, 2025, as shown below.
[Focused support category, per worker]
Fixed-term employee converted to regular employee : 800,000 yen (600,000 yen)
Non-fixed-term employee converted to regular employee : 400,000 yen (300,000 yen)
[Other cases, per worker]
Fixed-term employee converted to regular employee : 400,000 yen (300,000 yen)
Non-fixed-term employee converted to regular employee : 200,000 yen (150,000 yen)
*Figures in brackets are amounts for large companies.
Focused support category is applied to workers who fall under any of the (a) to (c) below.
a. Fixed-term workers who have been employed by a company for three years or more
b. Fixed-term workers who have been employed by a company for less than three years and correspond to both (1) and (2) below;
(1) Worked as a regular employee for a total period of less than one year over the past five years
(2) Have not been hired as a regular employee over the last 12 months
c. Temporary workers, single parents or other workers who have completed the designated training course of the personnel development support subsidy program
Please note that workers who have been employed for a total period exceeding five years are considered as non-fixed-term employees.
[2] Wage rules revision course
The wage rules revision course is aimed for companies that have raised fixed-term employees’ base salary by revising wage rules. Subsidy amounts, which are determined based on the amount of wage increase, have been changed as in the table below. The subsidy has decreased for cases of wage increase of less than 4%, while a greater subsidy will be provided if the wage increase rate is 6% or more.
|
Wage increase rate |
Subsidy (per person) |
|
3% or over and less than 4% |
40,000 yen (26,000 yen) |
|
4% or over and less than 5% |
50,000 yen (33,000 yen) |
|
5% or over and less than 6% |
65,000 yen (43,000 yen) |
|
6% or over |
70,000 yen (46,000 yen) |
*Figures in the brackets are for large companies.
The government will also add an extra amount to companies that newly introduced a wage increase system for fixed-term employees. The additional subsidy of 200,000 yen (150,000 yen for large companies) will be provided to a company only once.
In the past, companies planning to apply for the subsidy were required to submit a career development plan to the jurisdictional labor department by the day before starting specific action and obtain certification from the labor office. From April 2025, submission has become no longer required. Companies only need to file application for the subsidy.
If your company is considering to use the subsidy, please check the latest information and draw up a career development plan.
[Reference]
The Ministry of Labour, “Career development subsidies”
https://www.mhlw.go.jp/stf/seisakunitsuite/bunya/koyou_roudou/part_haken/jigyounushi/career.html
*The information is based on laws and regulations as of the date of the original article.
