As a measure to address the "1.06 million yen annual income barrier," the Career Development Promotion Subsidy includes the "Improvement of Treatment When Enrolling in Social Insurance” course. In July, a new course called the "Support for Extending Working Hours of Part-Time Workers" has been established to address the "1.3 million yen annual income barrier."
[1] Background
The "Support for Extending Working Hours of Part-Time Workers" course is aimed to address the “1.3 million yen barrier” and promote social insurance enrollment and career advancement of fixed-term workers. The subsidy is provided to companies that have implemented measures increasing income of workers enrolled in the social insurance scheme such as extending their working hours or raising wages.
[2] Applicable workers
Relevant workers are those who have been employed for more than six months before enrolled in the social insurance system and were not eligible to social insurance during the period. There are other requirements, e.g., workers who had been enrolled in the social insurance system during the two-year period up to the enrollment at the same company are excluded.
[3] Subsidy amounts
The chart below shows subsidy amounts. Since companies assume a greater burden of social insurance payment when workers exceed the “1.3 million yen barrier” than the “1.06 million yen barrier,” the subsidy amounts of the "Support for Extending Working Hours of Part-Time Workers" course are higher than the "Improvement of Treatment When Enrolling in Social Insurance” course.
Companies may also receive a subsidy in the second year by extending applicable employees’ working hours or raising their wages.
First year
|
Requirements |
Subsidy per worker |
|||
|
Extension of scheduled work hours |
Wage raises |
Large companies |
Small and medium-sized companies |
Small enterprises |
|
Five hours or more |
- |
300,000 yen |
400,000 yen |
500,000 yen |
|
Four hours or more and less than five hours |
5% or more |
|||
|
Three hours or more and less than four hours |
10% or more |
|||
|
Two hours or more and less than three hours |
15% or more |
|||
Second year
|
Requirements |
Subsidy per worker |
|||
|
Extension of scheduled work hours |
Wage raises |
Large companies |
Small and medium-sized companies |
Small enterprises |
|
Further extension of two hours or more |
- |
150,000 yen |
200,000 yen |
250,000 yen |
|
- |
Raise base salary further by 5% or more, or application of a pay increase system, bonus system or retirement allowance system |
|||
*Here, “small enterprises” means companies with 30 or less regularly employed workers.
A leaflet and Q&A on this subsidy are available on the Labor Ministry’s website. In the case a company increased wages in accordance with a revision in the regional or industrial minimum wages, the website indicates that the pay increase may be included in the subsidy requirement if the company revises its wage rules or other relevant rules between the day the minimum wage revision was determined and the day before the effective date of the revision.
Since companies may be required to review workers’ wages in accordance with a minimum wage revision, please consider using the subsidies.
*The information is valid as of the date of the original article.
