Bookmark this page for 2025 Japanese Labour Law & Social Welfare Updates.

Here is the Bookmark to 2024 articles.

In this final April Update, we summarise and provide links to government sources on employer obligations, and employee entitlements from labor changes as they apply to payroll and social insurances, etc.

April 1. New MHLW materials and updates on subsidies from April 2025 have been published on the website of the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare. New subsidies, and some that have been terminated, cover a broad range from HR & training support, to work style reform

April 1. MHLW resumes “Support Subsidy for Human Resources Securing (Employment Management System and Employment Environment Development Grants. These are sizeable subsidies and grants, up to ¥1.9M, specifically to support companies in creating improved workplace environments.

April 3. MHLW publishes guidelines on “Creating a Workplace Where You Can Continue to Work While Receiving Fertility Treatment” and “Infertility Treatment and Work Balance Support Handbook” to support employees seeking such treatment while maintaining work-life balance.

April. The Foreigner Technical Training Organization began publicizing nursing care technical trainees with practical experience in nursing care offices, etc., due to the growing demand for nursing care workers in Japan.

April 9. MHLW publishes leaflets and pamphlets on subsidies for support for fiscal year 2025. A recurring theme this month, the slew of subsidy and support programs relating to Nusrsing Care, Child Care, Fertility Programs, etc, are getting heavy promotion to address the situation.

April 10, April 4, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism releases a “Handbook for the Recruitment and Retention of Foreign Engineers for Managers and Practitioners of Small and Medium-sized Construction Companies“. The well-known labor shoratge has hit the construction industry the hardest for small and medium-sized construction industries.

April 11. MHLW is working on career advancement subsidies to counter the “annual income barrier of 1.3 million yen”. Aimed at short-term and contract workers not covered by the Social Insurance System, the measures include increasing daily work hours, wages, and employer subsidies.

April 15. The MHLW releases materials on the “wage increase” support subsidy package. There are subsidies for implementing work reform and work mobility, and reducing regular vs. irregular worker wage gaps.

April 17. The Ministry of Finance posted materials on the “creation of a special case for raising basic deductions, etc., and increasing minimum taxable thresholds to support lower-income people and families. Additional information is available here.

Disclaimer: As a Japanese Sharoushi (Certified Japanese Labor and Social Security Attorney), Verse Corporation endeavors to prioritize and accurately summarize recent government introductions and updates to labor law and Social Welfare Guidelines. However, there may be more announcements and law/rule changes not covered here, and it is every company’s responsibility to do so on their own. Further, we do not accept any responsibility for inaccuracies in our materials, nor for any consequences to readers for relying on our materials.

Japanese Labor Law and the related social welfare requirements for employers are changing rapidly. Stay on top of them by bookmarking this page to see the updates, and then clicking through to the hyperlinked Verse articles and MHLW (Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare) source materials for greater detail. Bookmark this page for 2025 Labour & Social Welfare Updates.

Notes about Verse and our Articles.

• *Verse Corporation publishes articles on timely issues in Japanese Social Security and Labor Law. Japanese payroll, source deductions, and all labor law work & pay rules regarding compensation, social insurance, absenteeism & sick leave, etc. require strict adherence. Labor/employment law can be complex, even for Japanese companies, and must be handled mostly in Japanese. As with all social welfare and labor law matters in Japan, please seek out professional Sharoushi (Certified Labor and Social Security Attorney.)* 

• The bulk of the Japanese Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare (MHLW) announcements are in Japanese.  There are some general materials on the English site, however it tends to 
• reflect only basic information.  Please always seek out a local Japanese Sharoushi for an accurate interpretation of these complex rules and laws.

• In our External Resources you will find links to a select number of trusted Japanese and global resources addressing Japanese labor law, workplace Employer responsibilities and trends, etc.

NEW MHLW ANNOUNCEMENTS TO DATE IN 2025 (Reiwa 7)

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APRIL 2025

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Staying On Top of Changes to Japanese Labor Law. Engage a Sharoushi in some way.

The expression “nothing is more constant than change” certainly applies to Japanese labor law in recent years – and 2025 is no exception. This is especially true in the areas of employee pay, benefits and the myriad related deductions, and Social Security which includes insurances & pensions.

Frankly, as a Japanese Sharoushi (Japanese Labor Law and Social Security) firm, one of our major responsibilities & efforts is ensuring that our clients are up-to-date and in compliance.

This Bookmark Page, and all of the full articles we write and post on our website, does not nearly cover all the changes. Even our “disclaimer” makes that point. So how do you stay on top and in compliance? The honest answer is to engage a Sharoushi in some way – they are the only professionals certified by the government to advise you and/or manage it all for you. If you have no HR or paayroll experts on staff, Sharoushi will have various serviceofferings to meet your needs. If you have in-house HR and payroll experts, of course, your need for an outside Sharoushi is reduced to an advisory role.

With or Without Sharoushi Support – Monitor the Official MHLW Resources

The Japanese Minsitry of Health, Labor and Welfare publishes / posts vast resources on updates to laws, employer / employee requirements, premium changes and calculations, etc. Here are some of the key links to stay on top of.

The bulk of the Japanese Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare (MHLW) announcements are in Japanese.  There are some general materials on the English site, however it tends to 
reflect only basic information.  Please always seek out a local Japanese Sharoushi for an accurate interpretation of these complex rules and laws. As you might expect, the information is categorized into: HEALTH, WELFARE and LABOR – again, it is very limited.

The official Japanese MHLW website, in Japanese, is comprehensive and your main resource. Many foreign companies and/or or non-Japanese-speaking people use web browser translations to navigate the site. We highly recommend this if you want to be sure to access all the most up-to-date information. While AI translations are imperfect, especially on such technical matters, an AI translation to English or any other language these days is pretty good.

For companies – these are some key sections and resources for employers.

• Employment-related subsidies for business owners
• Employment adjustment subsidy
• Industrial Employment Stabilization Subsidy
• Support subsidies for securing human resources, etc.
• Career advancement grant
• Human resource development support subsidy
• To business owners who are looking for human resources (Hello Work)
• Dispatch, job placement, recruitment media
• Special site for expanding social insurance coverage
• Information on the Work Style Reform Promotion Support Center
• iDeCo+ (ideco Plus, small and medium business owner premium payment system)
• Information on raising the statutory employment rate and lowering the exclusion rate for people with disabilities [PDF format: 1.1MB]

For Employee Consultation

• Information on the general labor consultation corner
• List of consultation windows regarding working conditions

MHLW YouTube Channel containing general announcements.

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MARCH 2025

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March 8, 2025 was International Women’s Day. Japan consistently ranks low on global gender equality scales. There are historical and cultural reasons that have made progress slow; however, the situation is improving thanks to Japan’s recent workplace female and general equality initiatives spearheaded by the government and big employers.

Examples of Recent Workplace Initiatives

1. Proposed amendment to the Comprehensive Labor Measures Promotion Act

Click here for the Verse full story

The purpose of the revision is stated as: necessary: in order to improve a working environment where diverse workers can play an active role, we will take measures such as strengthening measures against harassment, promoting women’s activity, including extending the expiration date of the Women’s Activity Promotion Act, and promoting support for treatment and work balance.

Overview of the revision. Click here to see the MHLW website on the revisions.
1. Strengthening countermeasures against harassment [Comprehensive Promotion of Labor Measures Act, Equal Employment Opportunity for Men and Women Act]

2. Promotion of women’s activities [Women’s activities promotion law]
3. Promotion of support for the balance of treatment and work [Comprehensive Labor Measures Promotion Act]

2. Revisions to, and promotion of the Shokubarabo comparitive website.

On February 27, the “Shokubarabo” site, operated by the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare (click to visit the Japanese site) was renewed. The MHWL states that: Shokubarabo” is a website that allows you to search and compare workplace information, such as overtime hours (overtime hours), paid leave acquisition rates, and average ages, for companies that actively pursue workplace improvement.

On this site, information about companies posted on three sites: “Youth Employment Promotion Comprehensive Site”, “Women’s Active Participation Promotion Company Database”, and “Compatibility Support Square”, and the main items are as follows.

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FEBRUARY 2025

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Article 1.

Focus on Childcare and Nursing Care Leave in Japan. Employers Take Note.

The two most common types of paid leave in Japan are for childcare and nursing care. Both have been an ongoing focus of the government in recent years, and changes are occurring that employers and employees must be aware of.

Overview.

Childcare Leave. As of 2025, significant updates to Japan’s childcare leave laws include: expanded eligibility for leave regardless of length of employment, extended rights to request overtime exemptions for employees with children up to elementary school age, increased disclosure requirements for companies regarding childcare leave usage, and a greater push for flexible working arrangements tailored to the age of the child, with the aim of better work-life balance for parents.

Nursing Care. As of 2025, the major update to Japanese nursing care leave is that employers are now required to proactively inform employees about nursing care leave options and support systems, particularly when employees reach the age of 40, and must confirm their understanding of these benefits when needed; this is part of broader amendments to the Child Care and Family Care Leave Act aiming to better balance work and family responsibilities, with new provisions coming into effect on April 1, 2025, and further updates on October 1, 2025.

Basic MHLW Materials in English for Childcare and Nursing Care Leave. Caution: these are very helpful descriptions in English and are supposed to kept up to date. However, updates in Japanese are far more frequently published – as such, it is best to refer to those to be sure.

Promotion of Balancing Work and Family Section of the MHLW Portal:

• Introduction to the revised Child Care and Family Care Leave Law [English] [Japanese]
• The Act for Partial Revision of the Act for Measures to Support the Development of the Next-Generation Children (Act No. 28 of 2014) (Overview)(PDF:89KB) 
• Overview of Revised Child and Family Care Leaves Act and Equal Employment Opportunities Act(English PDF:749KB) (Japanese PDF:1,079KB) 
• Outline of the Act on Childcare Leave, Caregiver Leave, and Other Measures for the Welfare of Workers Caring for Children or Other Family Members 
  (English PDF:282KB Chinese PDF:643KB Portuguese PDF:432KB　Vietnamese PDF:555KB　Japanese PDF:734KB)
• Outline of the Act on the Partial Amendment to the Act on Promotion of Women’s Participation and Advancement in the Workplace etc. (PDF:506KB)

Japanese Source Materials: Pamphlets, Recent Changes, Examples in Work Rules, etc.

MHLW portal for the Childcare and Nursing Act.

Leaflet on the changes to the act.

Examples of Regulations and including them the Company Work Rules.

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JANUARY 2025

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Article 1.

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Increased Publication of Foreign Employee Enrollment in the Japanese Pension System.

This increased publication and promotion, includes increased local government investigation as to foreigner participation in the mandatory Pension System.

Japanese and English Summary of Participation Requirements

Japanese Detailed Description of Promotional Efforts.

In accordance with National Pension Law, the Japan Pension Service requests local governments to report on information on the nationality of residents, as to their Pension Contribution Status.

Japan’s Public Pension System

The public pension system, consisting of the National Pension system (NP) and the Employees’ Pension Insurance system (EPI), pays you insurance benefits not only for old age but also for unforeseeable events such as disability and death. The benefits are paid on condition that you pay monthly contributions.

All residents of Japan, regardless of nationality, aged between 20 to 59 (up to 70 years old for the EPI) must enroll either in the NP or in the EPI,

*If your workplace is covered by the EPI, you need to enroll in the EPI

* If you are temporarily (not over 5 years) sent to work in Japan from the country that has a social security agreement with Japan, you may be exempted from compulsory coverage by the Japanese public pension system.

Key points of National Pension system

If you are not covered by the EPI, you need to do the procedure for yourself to enroll in the NP at your residential municipal office.

The NP provides benefits when you become old, you have severe disability due to an illness or injury, and / or the income earner of a family dies

Old-age pension and disability pension will be paid to you while survivors’ pension will be paid to the dependent survivors, including spouse and children In order to receive benefits, you must meet the relevant children requirements.

You need to pay NP contribution: 16,980 yen* per month

* Monthly amount for fiscal year 2024 (from April 2024 to March 2025)

If it is financially difficult to pay NP contributions, you may apply for exemption of contribution.

If you meet certain requirements such as low income or unemployment, contribution exemption is granted. Students may apply for special payment system to postpone the contribution payments.

Key Points of Employees’ Pension Insurance system

■ If your workplace is covered by the EPI, you must enroll in the EPI.

■ Your employer is responsible for your enrollment procedure. Half of your contribution amount is paid by your employer and half by you. Your employer deducts your contribution from your salary, and pays it together with their share to the government.

■ The EPI also provides old-age pension, disability pension, survivors’ pension, and lump-sum withdrawal payments.

If you have any questions about the public pension system, please contact your residential municipal office, a JPS branch office or call Nenkin Dial, a call center with free interpretation service for several languages.

For more information about the public pension system, please visit the Japan Pension Service website.

https://www.nenkin.go.jp/international/index.html

Article 2

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Japan’s MHLW Contemplating Corporate Pension and Individual Pension Revisions

The Corporate Pension and Individual Pension Subcommittee of the Social Security Council announced the “Organization of Discussions in the Corporate Pension and Individual Pension Subcommittee of the Social Security Council”. While these are not yet law, companies would be wise to take notice and be ahead of such revisions so as to better serve their employees retirement needs.

●Rise the upper limit of the age limit for joining iDeCo (Independent Defined Contribution Plan)

→ In addition to the current requirement for national pension-insured persons, some have joined a private pension while paying insurance premiums for public pensions and used iDeCo from the ages of 60 to 70 so that they can continue to build assets in their old age. Those who intend to continue asset formation in old age (specifically, those who were members and management instructions ofiDeCo and those who transfer assets of private pensions (such as corporate DC to iDeCo) and receive basic old-age pensions and iDeCo old-age benefits. Those who have not been given should be allowed to join and continue to contribute to iDeCo.

●Increasing the upper limit of the age at which iDeCo can be started

→ We should continue after 75 years old, and after looking at the situation of those who start receiving benefits after the age of 70 after April 2020, etc., we should carefully discuss whether to raise the age of starting benefits further.

●iDeCo’s contribution limit

→ The contribution limit of iDeCo’s No. 2 insured person will be reviewed so that they can contribute up to the common contribution limit combined with the corporate pension, even if there is no corporate pension or if the employer’s premium is small.

→ The contribution limit of iDeCo should be reviewed based on changes in the economic and social situation in conjunction with the contribution limit of corporate DCs.

●Contribution limit for corporate DCs

→ The contribution limit of corporate DCs should be reviewed based on changes in economic and social conditions such as rising wages.

→ Regarding the matching contribution of corporate DCs, it is necessary to review the restrictions that cannot exceed the employer’s contribution amount.

●Simple DC system

→ After its establishment in 2018, it was thought that there was no track record of use and it did not meet the needs of small and medium-sized enterprises, so some of the simplified procedures applied to the simplified DC were applied to normal corporate DC, so the normal enterprise For business DC, we should improve the design that is easy for all business owners, including small and medium-sized enterprises, and integrate simple DC into normal corporate DC.

●Small and medium-sized business owner’s premium payment system (iDeCo+)

→ As for the scope of small and medium-sized business owners that can be implemented, it will continue to be less than 300 people, and we should work on promoting dissemination and increasing the number of subscribers.

→ The combination of iDeCo+ and DB should be carefully considered

●Comprehensive DC

→ There is no legal definition, but for the so-called “comprehensive DC” in which multiple offices that do not have a close relationship with business and capital jointly implement corporate DC, refer to the provisions of the comprehensive DB, position it institutionally, and grasp the actual situation Should

→ Measures to improve initiatives related to the development of rules, selection of operational products, monitoring, and the implementation of continuous investment education should continue to be considered.

●DB system design

→ For changes in the benefit design due to the extension of the retirement age, etc., while continuing to follow the current judgment criteria for the reduction of benefits in principle, certain requirements such as increasing the nominal amount of benefits are met, and the subject to changing the benefit design of DB If there is an agreement from a labor union organized by more than two-thirds of the entrants, it should be exceptionally not treated as a “benefit reduction”

●So-called selective DB and selective DC

→ In the so-called selective DB, as in the case of DC, it should be added to the DB’s notice of interpretation of laws and regulations so that the employer should explain the impact on the amount of benefits such as social insurance and employment insurance to employees.

→ On top of that, we will proceed with efforts to ensure that employees are accurately explained to the impact on benefits in the social insurance system, including disability pensions and survivor pensions, at the time of labor-management consultations, introduction, and enrollment.

●Automatic transfer

→ As a response to be taken by the employer, before the loss of the corporate DC subscriber qualification to the time of loss of qualification, to implement an explanation of the response to be taken at the time of loss of qualification, and to individual management assets at the time of loss of qualification for all corporate DC subscribers Continuous explanation of transfer procedures, etc. should be implemented.

●DC withdrawal lump sum

→ Based on the situation and practice of reviewing the public pension withdrawal lump sum, the total contribution period should be raised from 5 to 8 years, etc.

MHLW source materials, in Japanese.

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