As of October 1, 2026, the so-called, “1.06-million yen annual income barrier” has been eliminated, with the removal of wage requirement for short-time workers to become enrolled in social insurance system (a monthly wage of 88,000 yen or more.) This article looks at this change and reviews requirements for part-time workers to become enrolled in the social insurance system.
[1] Social insurance eligibility
Persons enrolled in social insurance system in companies are directors, regular employees, and part-time workers who satisfy certain criteria. Part-timers whose scheduled monthly work hours are three-fourths or more of that of regular employees will be enrolled as “general insured persons.” Part-timers who work at “designated applicable places of business (workplaces where the number of insured persons, excluding part-timers, is expected to be 51 or more for at least 6 months a year)” for 20 hours or more in a week and meet other criteria are also eligible for social insurance.
[2] Elimination of the “1.06-million yen barrier”
In the past, “a monthly wage of 88,000 yen or more based on a contract” was one of the requirements for part-timers to become enrolled in social insurance. Since the figure adds up to 1.06 million yen for a year, the requirement has commonly been called, “the 1.06-million yen annual income barrier.” However, since the minimum hourly wage has been raised to 1,016 yen or higher for all prefectures, monthly wages of part-timers who work 20 hours or more per week normally exceeds 88,000 yen. Considering this situation, the government has removed this requirement as of October 1, 2026.
With this change, the current requirements for part-timers to become enrolled in social insurance are;
1. Scheduled weekly work hours of 20 hours or more
2. Not a student.
A common requirement for general employees and part-timers is that they are “expected to be employed for 2 months or more.”
[3] How to check if weekly work hours satisfy the criterion
The requirement, “scheduled weekly work hours of 20 hours or more” can be confusing in actual personnel management. In determining whether part-timers should be enrolled in social insurance, companies need to refer to scheduled work hours indicated in their employment contracts. If their actual weekly work hours exceeded 20 hours for 2 consecutive months and the situation is continuing or expected to continue in the future, the workers must be enrolled in social insurance on the first day of the third month since the actual weekly work hours exceeded 20 hours.
The government plans to implement additional measures to expand the scope of workers applicable to social insurance from October 2027. For instance, firms with up to 50 employees will also become “designated applicable place of business.” Since these changes will affect both companies and workers, please be sure to understand the requirements for social insurance eligibility accurately.
Reference
The Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, “Response to the “annual income barriers”
https://www.mhlw.go.jp/stf/taiou_001_00002.html
This information is based on laws and regulations as of the date of the original article.
