By Yoneyama, 2022 January

Employment Insurance

I would like to further explore Specialized Practical Training and Education Benefit（専門実践教育訓練）in detail.As of April 1, 2019, the Ministry of Health, Welfare and Labor recognizes 325 training courses to acquire occupational license or diploma/qualification at vocational schools and special license schools etc.The ministry subsidizes 50% of the tuition for three years at the maximum.400,000 JPY is an annual upper limit of the subsidy, so 1,200,000 JPY is the maximum you could expect to receive from the government.

However, if you were unemployed and are hired by a new employer thanks to your acquisition of an occupational license etc., the government will give you as an additional subsidy a 20% of the total tuition you paid. Its annual upper limit is 160,000JPY, so 480,000 JPY is the maximum you could expect for three years.

Overall, you will be able to receive the benefit as large as 1,680,000 JPY for your three years of learning and acquiring an occupational license.Besides the above benefit of tuition, if you meet the following conditions, you will be entitled to receiving an 教育訓練支援給付金（Educational training support benefit), which is intended to share some cost of daily life during the study.

            You are unemployed after some years of work which was insured.

            You are below 45 years old.

            You are planning to apply for an occupational license school etc. under the

Specialized Practical Training and Education Benefit（専門実践教育訓練）and to begin the school before March 31, 2022.

            You receive a counseling from a carrier consultant about the plan of schooling and job hunting.

教育訓練支援給付金（Educational training support benefit）is 80% of your regular unemployment benefit（基本手当日額）, and it continues for the period you study at your school.

You have to finish your application of this benefit at least one month before you apply for school.

 Specified General Training and Education Benefit（特定一般教育訓練）

As of October 1, 2021, the Ministry of Health, Welfare and Labor designates 484 training courses for this benefit.

They are broken down into the following three categories:

１　Occupational licensing, naming licensing or must-have qualification training courses

　（New care workers’ training course, Large-sized car drivers’ license, care support specialists course etc.）467 courses

２　Training courses to aim at acquiring ICT related qualifications at a certain level or higher

　（Basic information technology test etc.）   ４ courses

３　Short time occupational practical capability development programs and Carrier development promotional programs

　（Special curriculum（Health, Social Science/Society）etc. 13 courses

There are a variety of ways of taking courses available as follows:

１　Studying at school 365 courses

　（１）regular days’ daytime courses  307 courses

　（２）regular days’ nighttime courses 240講座

　（３）weekend courses 308

２　Remote learning    119 courses

　（１）Post mailing     80 courses

　（２）Partially online 16 courses

　（３）Online only       23 courses

General Training and Education Benefit（一般教育訓練）

Following are some of the most popular licenses and qualifications to Japanese business persons and university students that the Japanese government grants and administers.

If you are currently employed and insured by the employment insurance for more than a year, you are entitled to apply for the General Training and Education Benefit if it is your first time to receive the benefit. If it is your second time or more, there need to be three years or more since the beginning date of the last training course and also three years or more since the approval of the benefit was granted last time.

The benefit is 20% of what you paid to the lesson or course at the school you studied or 100,000 JPY whichever comes smaller. Even if you are unemployed, you are still entitled to the benefit if you apply within one year since you left your previous company and you were insured for more than a year at the previous company.

Having your baby in Japan

I would like to talk about social insurance support you will be able to expect to receive when you or your spouse has a baby in Japan.

<Delivery Benefit by Health Insurance（出産手当金）>

As long as you are covered by the public health insurance, you will be paid by the insurance for 42 days before the due date and 56 days from the next day of the delivery.

The benefit’s daily payment is calculated as follows:

your monthly pay                   x   2   x  number of days off

                 30 days                                       3

If you are paid by your employer during those 14 weeks of off time before and after the delivery, the actual amount paid is deducted from the benefit amount.

<One Time Delivery Support Fee by Health Insurance（出産育児一時金）>

If you are covered by the health insurance, and you or your spouse delivered a baby, you will be able to receive 420,000 JPY by the insurance so that your financial burden related to having a baby is mitigated.

<Child Care Benefit by the Employment Insurance（育児休業給付金）>

If you temporarily left your company for delivery of baby, but intend to come back to the original job sometime after the delivery, you will be able to receive the Child Care Benefit based on the following calculation:

Monthly benefit for the first 6 months Your original salary x 67%

Monthly benefit after the first 6 months          Your original salary x 50%

Time count begins on the 57^th day of the following day of the delivery.

You will be able to receive this benefit up until your baby’s first birthday at the maximum.

If there are specific reasons such as no availability of local nursery schools etc., the maximum duration could be extended to 1.6 years or to 2 years old.

All the above three benefits are not taxable income.

During the time you receive these benefits, you are exempted to pay social insurance premium.