As the effects of the spread of the new coronavirus infection continue for a long time, the amount of employment adjustment subsidies that protect employment has increased sharply.
Financial resources are tight.
The council of the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare has begun to consider raising the employment insurance premium rate from next year on the 8th.
Consider raising employment insurance premiums from the current level
The employment adjustment subsidy is a system that subsidizes leave allowances when companies affected by the new coronavirus maintain employment of employees.
Due to the prolonged impact of the spread of infection, the amount paid since February last year has exceeded 4.3 trillion yen, and the financial resources for employment insurance are insufficient.
The council, which is made up of representatives of labor and management of the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare, has begun to consider raising the employment insurance premium rate from next year on the 8th.
The current premium rate is:
▽ Unemployment benefits and childcare leave benefits are borne by both the company and employees, and the total wage is 0.6%.
▽ Businesses such as employment adjustment subsidies are borne by the company, and the wage is 0.3. It is%,
and it has been temporarily lowered because there was a margin in finance.
At the meeting on the 8th, a worker's committee member said,
"Workers' households are deteriorating and the increase in insurance premiums is unacceptable. The ratio of national treasury burden should be increased."
In addition, a committee member on the corporate side commented,
"Many companies are screaming because of the strict management and the increase in the minimum wage. I would like to request that the insurance premium rate not be increased."
Grant amount 4.4 times after the Lehman shock
According to the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare, the number of payment decisions from February last year to the 3rd of this month amounted to 4,421,511 yen, amounting to 4,348.1 billion yen.
The total amount paid for the two years from fiscal 2009 after the Lehman shock is approximately 978.5 billion yen.
Compared to this, the amount of payment is 4.4 times that in about one year and seven months.
Based on the impact of the new coronavirus, the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare has
raised the maximum amount of subsidy per person per day to 15,000 yen, and
▽ the subsidy rate such as leave allowance paid to employees will be set for large companies and small and medium-sized companies. We are
implementing special measures
such as raising the number to 100%
.
This special measure is
▽ in the target area of "emergency declaration" and "priority measures such as spread prevention", companies that cooperate in taking leave or shortening business hours based on the request from the local government, and
▽ sales in the last 3 months This applies to companies nationwide,
where the
number of such items has decreased by 30% or more compared to the previous year or two years ago
.
The Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare has decided to take this special measure and continue it until the end of November, saying that the effects of the spread of the infection are continuing.
Prolonging the corona will bottom out the main financial resources
The main source of funding for employment adjustment subsidies is the "employment stability fund," which is the accumulation of employment insurance premiums borne by companies.
Initially, the amount of "employment stability funds" was more than 1.5 trillion yen last year, but the impact of the new coronavirus has been prolonged and the amount of payment has almost bottomed out.
For this reason, we borrow about 1.7 trillion yen from the reserve fund of insurance premiums borne by both companies and employees for unemployment benefits, etc., and transfer about 1.7 trillion yen from the general account. ..
The rapid increase in payments continues this year, and the amount of payments exceeds 200 billion yen in many months.
How much will the burden increase compared to the present?
As a general rule, the premium rate for employment insurance is
▽ Unemployment benefits and childcare leave benefits are borne by both the company and employees, with a total monthly salary of 1.2%,
▽ Businesses such as employment adjustment subsidies are borne by the company. It is 0.35% of the monthly salary
.
Assuming that there is a financial margin, from fiscal 2017 onward
, businesses such as unemployment benefits
have been temporarily reduced to
0.6%, and
businesses such as employment adjustment subsidies
have been temporarily reduced to
0.3%
.
If the monthly salary is 300,000 yen, the employment insurance premium is currently 1800 yen for the company and 900 yen for the employee.
If the insurance premium rate is returned to the principle level, the monthly insurance premium will
be 2850 yen for companies
and 1800 yen for
employees, which will increase the burden by 1050 yen for companies and 900 yen for employees. ..
In addition, the ratio of unemployment benefits and other businesses borne by the government, the "national treasury burden ratio," is currently 2.5%, which is temporarily reduced from the principle of 25%.
The Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare's council will also consider raising the national treasury burden rate.
Travel agency “I did it with subsidies and the voices of employees”
The travel agency in Yokohama City mainly dealt with overseas travel tours, but the business continues to be harsh, with sales declining by about 90% due to the spread of the new coronavirus infection.
For this reason, in order to protect the employment of employees, we have been using the employment adjustment subsidy since April last year to take employees off and pay a leave allowance, and receive the subsidy for that amount.
However, the prospect of a tour of overseas travel can be resumed Tatazu, even if planning products of domestic travel, is also forced to cancel a number of times in the spread or emergency declaration, sales do not recover.
Judging that it would be difficult to continue the business as it is, we asked for a voluntary retirement by the end of February, but 10 people decided to retire and only 6 people remained in the company.
We secured working capital for the time being by selling an office in the center of Tokyo and renting an office in Yokohama.
However, we still use employment adjustment subsidies to keep some employees off two to three days a week to maintain employment.
The company is
working to increase sales through new businesses
such as
planning overseas tours to be conducted online and
importing special products in collaboration with tourist guides with
whom it has interacted.
Someday Kanemitsu (25), who has been working as a full-time employee for the third year since joining the company, currently works three days a week, but I find it rewarding to work for a travel agency.
Mr. Kanemitsu said,
"Anyway, the situation continues to be uncertain and uncertain, but when customers say,'I'll go on a trip when I'm calm, I'll do my best until then.' I want to do my best so that I can go. "
Shoichi Ota, president of Fuji Kokusai Travel Agency, said,
"Because of the direct impact of the new coronavirus, there were times when I was worried about whether to continue the company, but I wanted to support the company with an employment adjustment subsidy. I think I've managed to get this far because of the voices of employees. I want to take on new challenges such as online tours and work to restore management to the state before the spread of the virus. "
Chief Cabinet Secretary “Needs to be thoroughly considered during the budgeting process”
Chief Cabinet Secretary Kato said at a press conference in the afternoon,
"I understand that labor and management will discuss the financial management of the employment insurance system from next year onward, including the insurance premium rate and the way the national treasury will be borne. However, it is necessary to carefully consider the budgeting process so that the employment insurance can fully function as a safety net. "
The council plans to continue discussions toward the end of the year, and the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare plans to submit a bill to amend the Employment Insurance Law to the ordinary session of the Diet next year based on the results.