Whether employees can take paid holidays easily is a major concern for job seekers and the matter may affect the success of companies' recruiting activities. According to the Labour Ministry’s survey, the usage rate of annual paid leave hit a record 66.9% in fiscal 2025. This article looks at details.
[1] Status of usage of paid leave
Companies have given an average of 18.1 paid holidays per worker, excluding days carried over, increasing from 16.9 days a year ago. Workers used 12.1 days of paid leave on average, compared with 11.1 days in a year earlier. The usage rate was the highest 66.9% since 1984. Following are the rates by industrial sector.
[2] Scheduled leave system
Companies that adopt the scheduled leave system may decide when their employees take the portion of annual paid leave in excess of 5 days by signing a labor-management agreement. Scheduled leave may be given to all employees at the same time, to groups taking turns, or to individual employees by creating a leave schedule.
The survey shows 40.8% of companies adopt a scheduled leave system (40.1% in the previous year). As for the number of days of scheduled leave, the largest 71.6% of the companies said “5 to 6 days.” This indicates that employers are using this system to ensure workers take at least 5 days of their entitled leave, as required by laws.
[3] Special leave
It is common for companies to give special holidays, aside from annual paid leave or legal holidays, such as leave for sick/injured childcare. In the survey, 60.3% said they have a special leave system (59.9% in the previous year). Types of leave and the percentages of companies are as below.
Please note that manager-level workers are also required to take at least 5 days of annual paid leave. In some cases, companies find their workers have not taken leave as required at the end of the fiscal year. Please check ahead of time and ensure all employees have used their paid leave.
Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, “FY2025 General Survey on Working Conditions”
https://www.mhlw.go.jp/toukei/itiran/roudou/jikan/syurou/25/index.html
＊The information is based on laws and regulations as of the date of the original article.
