At a government meeting on the 15th, Prime Minister Kishida clarified his intention to review the ideal form of unemployment benefits for those who leave their jobs for personal reasons.
The aim is to facilitate labor mobility.
This has long been an issue in the labor market, and there are deep-rooted concerns that workers will be forced to leave their jobs. Will this review change the situation?
How does the unemployment benefit system work?
What does "voluntarily leave the job" mean?
We have collected these questions in Q&A.
Q. How does unemployment benefit work?
A. Unemployment benefits are paid to people who are willing and able to work but are unemployed and looking for work to live a stable life.
Funding is covered by insurance premiums paid by workers and employers, and government expenses.
There are two categories of job separation for which you can receive unemployment benefits: "company separation" such as bankruptcy or dismissal, and "voluntary separation" such as changing jobs or career advancement, and the contents of benefits differ.
Q.How much can I get?
(Benefit amount/period)
A.The amount of benefits is approximately 50% to 80% of the average wage for the last 6 months.
The benefit period varies depending on the age of the individual, the period of payment for employment insurance, the reason for leaving the job, and other factors.
Of these, the timing of when you start receiving the benefits will differ greatly between "resignation due to company reasons" and "resignation due to personal reasons".
In the case of "resignation due to company reasons", you can receive it after completing the procedure at Hello Work and waiting for 7 days after receiving the determination of eligibility.
On the other hand, if the reason is "voluntarily leaving the job" such as changing jobs or career advancement, in addition to the 7-day waiting period, in principle, a 2-month "benefit limit" is set, and you cannot receive it until after that.
These disparities are designed to prevent people from repeatedly finding employment and leaving their jobs and intentionally receiving unemployment benefits.
In addition, there is a difference in the period of benefits, and in principle, it is 90 to 330 days in the case of leaving the job for company reasons, and 90 to 150 days in the case of leaving the job for personal reasons.
Q. Why did you talk about revising the “voluntary retirement”?
A. At the government's "New Capitalism Realization Conference" on the 15th, Prime Minister Kishida said that it was "to facilitate labor movement."
In order to revitalize the stagnant economy, it seems that the aim is to encourage the smooth movement of human resources to growth fields and industries with labor shortages, in other words, to encourage job changes.
Such revisions have been made in the past.
Until three years ago, the "benefit limit" was in principle three months, but it was shortened from one month to the current two months in order to create an environment in which people can change jobs with peace of mind.
Recruitment service personnel
We asked a person in charge of a company that supports job changes about their intention to review the way unemployment benefits should be when they retire for personal reasons.
Seiya Oura, editor-in-chief of job change service "doda"
"I agree with reviewing unemployment benefits, but I'm a little skeptical that it will directly lead to smoother labor movement. I think the ideal is labor movement without unemployment
. Therefore, unless we go to the extent of creating a system that does not cause loss even if the period of unemployment is shortened, it will not lead to smooth labor movement. If such drastic policies can be adopted, such as by receiving unemployment benefits or reskilling the financial resources corresponding to unemployment benefits, there is a possibility that labor migration will increase.”
The current situation of forcing "self-convenient retirement"
On the other hand, there have been a series of consultations regarding the handling of resignations for personal reasons.
According to the labor organization Rengo Tokyo, the company urged him to resign, and even though he was told, "You don't have to come," he was told to write "for personal reasons" in his resignation letter. There are also consultations such as "I was told to retire for my own convenience, even though I retired for my convenience."
Rengo Tokyo Secretary General Chiaki Saito said
, "The most common consultation is that 'even though it's convenient for the company, the company will be forced to quit because it's a small burden on the company's side.' I would like you to consider how unemployment benefits should be.I
feel that it is necessary not only to provide generous benefits to those who quit for personal reasons, but also to improve the environment in which those who have decided to quit can find their next job. "