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Japan considers bringing part-timers into employee pension system

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I think it's a good idea. More and more Japanese, especially women, work part-time or contract and it can be hard to go full-time. It's just the new reality.

1 ( +5 / -4 )

The Japanese government is considering including some short-term contract workers and part-timers in the employee pension program as a measure to expand the retirement support system's scope, government officials said Wednesday.

I beg to differ, the real reason is the ever shrinking numbers of people who pay into full time. No thanks to corporations hiring less full time employees and more PT and contracted ones!

10 ( +10 / -0 )

Great idea, hope it happens, too many smaller businesses screwing their employees with this lack of enrollment.

0 ( +5 / -5 )

Yes employers are not adequately paying their "part-time" workers benifits, but the wages paid mean that those employees are not getting their wages lowered again to bolster a system that they will never benifit from. It's a cash grab rather than having any benifit to those same people who pay. A very subtle way to lower living standards already below liveable.

8 ( +9 / -1 )

Are getting

0 ( +0 / -0 )

The Gov't wants to take a little under 10% in taxes, and then take another ¥16,000 as well from me working part time? The Gov't wants part timers to pay into the pension scam now, not because we will get more LATER, but because the Gov't is running out of pension money NOW for the aging population. I don't want to pay into this scam. I will just collect my Military disability and my US social security pension. My pay I get from America is way more than what I will ever get from the Gov't in Japan.

5 ( +9 / -4 )

Yeah sure, they're doing this for the benefit of part time workers. Why didn't they do this from the start? The pension system here is a scam. It's just more money raking from the government under the guise of caring for people.

13 ( +14 / -1 )

What Vince And Yubaru said. and yes I agree. The pension system is a scam

5 ( +7 / -2 )

I think it's a good idea. More and more Japanese, especially women, work part-time or contract and it can be hard to go full-time. It's just the new reality.

It's caused by necessity for them to fund pension program, is not about welfare worker at all. Just like Yubaru, Vince and Aly said.

By having employees who are only enrolled in the national pension scheme join the employee pension program, the government aims to increase pensions they receive in the future, the officials said.

It'

5 ( +6 / -1 )

The national pension is a net loss for everybody born after about 1970 (unless you live well past a hundred, maybe). Not a surprise that they're trying to force as many people as possible to join it!

5 ( +6 / -1 )

I think the employee pension program should be available as an option for all employees. A 401k should be the first savings option for most people.

1 ( +3 / -2 )

There are numerous kinds of pensions here. The kokuminnenkin is the old age pension, reorei...then there is Kyosai. and keionenkin...it is crazy with all these different tiers depending on when you joined etc. You have to be an IQ of 125 or better to understand it.

Oh yeah,...kakyunenkin also is a different nenkin you get for a spouse not making a simple amount of income....this system, although it works is whacked!!!

Plus, if you get divorced, the kyosai nenkin gets halved...not the other parts....but if your ex dies, you do not get the return on it.

BUt heck, Japan sure beats america on protecting their own in general.

2 ( +3 / -1 )

As I understand this overly complicated system, part-timers will have an added tax to their exorbitant already taxed income of ¥1,000 yen an hour leaving them after NHK fees health insurance, local tax, ect, ect earning well less than ¥1,000 an hour for work they do with the knowledge that saving the ¥20,000,000 yen for retirement is pretty much not going to happen unless they master the art of not eating and being comfortable under a bridge. Gambatte Japan youth.

6 ( +6 / -0 )

What are they talking about? part timers are required to pay their own pension just like everyone else (full timers get it removed from their salary by the company)

0 ( +1 / -1 )

This is a just a cash grab to extend the amount of people who have to pay into this scam. Part-time and short-term contract workers are excused because their income is low and insecure, but these thieves want to scam money from them anyway. I got trapped paying this scam for a little over two years. I was 'taxed' a little over ¥1.2 million in that time. However, my actual rebate is around ¥200,000 yen. Over 80% of the money I have paid into a supposed 'retirement fund' has disappeared. My Japanese Mrs, is much worse off though. she has paid over 60 grand into this scam and her rebate is 12 grand after twenty odd years paying into it. They must stop calling it a pension fund. It is not a pension fund at all! It is a tax with a less than 20% return. A 'real' pension funds earns dividends and is an investment.

If you are earning around 3-4 million (or less) yen per year, like 60% of the population, and paying health insurance for a family, city tax, income tax and pension tax, you are being taxed over 50% of your salary when you calculate in the minus 80% of the pension scam. Get out of Japan while you still have money! Use 'TransferWise' to send your money out of Japan and follow it! you are being extorted for money to the point of bankruptcy by the Japanese government, AKA: the Yakuza!!

7 ( +7 / -0 )

When a Ponzi scheme is failing, you have to widen the base.

7 ( +7 / -0 )

such workers will be able to enroll in the employee pension system

Worded as if they will have a choice, or desire too, or as if it will ever benefit them.

4 ( +4 / -0 )

about time.

-1 ( +1 / -2 )

Great. Now people earning minimum wage can be forced to pay into an unsustainable pension scam too.

6 ( +6 / -0 )

What are they talking about? part timers are required to pay their own pension just like everyone else (full timers get it removed from their salary by the company)

Are required to, but dont. There was an article not that long ago about how vast numbers of long-term part-timers are screwed because they have never made (never been able to afford to make) pension payments.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

I'd love to not have to pay in to the Japanese pension, but I am not willing to break the law; neither is my company. Glad I still get my UK pension though!

4 ( +4 / -0 )

Of course, this ruling will also include the thousands of foreign ALTs who are currently working for ¥10,000-¥12,000 per day including transportation with no stipend payments for the extended school vacation periods. This means their yearly salary of under ¥2 million will be cut by a further 15% to pay this scam. As previously stated, get your money and yourself out of Japan. You are a financial prisoner here paying upwards of 50% of your salary in taxes and government fees. Don’t forget to add NHK as another extortion fee.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

Good. Companies should be forced to match the contributions of their part time and contract employees. We already pay, but companies don't.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Sadly, this is not about improving benefits or the financial situations of part-time workers. It's about the government and pension system getting more money. This change is essentially a hidden tax increase on low-wage earners. The government isn't officially raising any tax rates, but it is forcing more people to pay at the higher employee system rate instead of at the cheaper national system rate.

Currently, the vast majority of part-time workers in Japan are people who want to avoid the employee pension system because it is so expensive. Many are housewives who want to stay under their husbands' pensions. Paying one full-time salary into the pension system and keeping one part-time salary under the income threshold is cheaper than paying both salaries into the pension system. Some others are single workers who realize that receiving a higher salary and paying into the national pension system is cheaper than receiving a lower salary and paying the employee pension system. Little by little, the government is forcing more and more part-time workers to pay into the employee pension system. Many people may lose ten or twenty thousand yen a month in disposable income because of this change.

The national system costs people less, and the employee system costs people more. The coverage and benefits are virtually the same for most people. With a shrinking population, the pension system is unsustainable over the next few decades in Japan. The government is trying to squeeze every yen out of Japanese workers to shore up the system's finances by forcing people into the more expensive employee scheme. Eventually, there will be no more part--time workers to push off the national system and onto the employee system, and the government will finally be forced to raise the tax rate and/or cut benefits. That will be unpopular politically, but it is eventually unavoidable.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

Why not! National bankruptcy isn’t a real thing.

-2 ( +0 / -2 )

Here in The States everyone automatically has to pay into the Social Security System, but not everyone gets to reap the benefits.

For instance, although both the employee and employer pay into Social Security for the given employee, the collected taxes do not count toward a retirement income in any given fiscal quarter unless the employee works more than a given number of hours. So, in many instances, the taxes are collected, but no benefit is accrued.

Furthermore, an individual is not eligible for Social Security benefits at retirement unless he or she qualifies in at least 10 individual quarters. Again, this creates a scenario in which many people pay thousands of dollars into Social Security but are not eligible to collect benefits.

The Social Security system over here helps many retirees stay out of abject poverty, but, IMO, it is not a perfect system. On top of everything else, one of the political parties is constantly trying to kill Social Security.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

This just gives me one more reason to look forward to moving to Japan. Because the initial work out would have to do on a student visa, will be part-time work anyway. Which means, I would have at least a one year head start when I do eventually move there in over a year!

0 ( +0 / -0 )

@1glenn.Another part of Social Security is the disability side of it. This is one of the good things about social security. If you become disabled prior to age 65, you can draw SSDI. I am in the middle of that mess right now.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

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