Due to the prolonged impact of the new coronavirus, the total amount of national employment adjustment subsidies provided to protect employment has exceeded 4 trillion yen, and securing financial resources has become an issue.
The Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare's council plans to start discussions on the employment insurance premium rate from next year this month.
The employment adjustment subsidy is a system that subsidizes leave allowances when companies affected by the new coronavirus maintain employment of employees, and the total amount paid to companies has been 4 trillion 2000 since February last year. It is over 100 million yen.
On the other hand, financial resources are tight.
The “employment stability fund,” which is the accumulation of employment insurance premiums borne by companies, which are the main source of revenue, was about 1.5 trillion yen at the beginning of last year, but it has almost bottomed out due to the rapid increase in the amount of payment.
For this reason, we borrowed approximately 1.7 trillion yen from the reserve fund for insurance premiums borne by both companies and employees for unemployment benefits, etc., and transferred more than 1.7 trillion yen from the general account.
The Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare expects to provide employment adjustment subsidies of more than 1.2 trillion yen this year, but the amount of payment has already exceeded 1.1 trillion yen as of 27th last month, and securing financial resources is an issue. It has become.
For this reason, the council formed by the labor and management representatives of the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare plans to start discussions on the employment insurance premium rate from next year from this month.
This year's insurance premium rate is 0.3% for businesses that are funded by companies such as employment adjustment subsidies, and 0.6% for businesses that both companies and employees pay unemployment benefits and childcare leave benefits. It has become.
As of 2016, when the current insurance premium rate was decided, it was temporarily reduced due to financial margins.
The council has decided to continue discussions toward the end of the year, but some economic groups and labor unions have said that raising the insurance premium rate will increase the burden on companies and employees, and demand that they be covered by general financial resources.