2023 Volume 23 Pages 168-178
In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, employment adjustment subsidies have become a focus of attention as part of the policies for maintaining employment. While it is argued that employment adjustment subsidies prevent unemployment, it is also true that it has been criticized for encouraging employment protection for regular employees and delaying the transformation of the industrial structure. However, many previous studies have recognized that employment adjustment subsidies are effective in maintaining employment. Conversely, some issues remain regarding the expansion of expenditures for employment adjustment subsidies and fiscal management triggered by the 2008 financial crisis.
This study organizes the discussions on the changes in the fiscal management and policy effects of employment adjustment subsidies, and examines the issues of the system. This study organizes the discussions on the changes in the fiscal management and policy effects of employment adjustment subsidies, and examines the issues of the system. In particular, amid economic fluctuations owing to the COVID-19 pandemic, the enactment of the Employment Insurance Temporary Special Provisions Act in 2020 and the establishment of the “Support Fund and Allowance for the Leave Forced to be Taken Under the COVID-19 Outbreak” were carried over from the general account. However, not all companies forced into severe circumstances are reuuired to receive the benefits, and although the employment adjustment subsidy has the efect of avoiding unemployment, there are many issues. On the other hand, in Japan, where employment insurance coverage is received for a short period and employment protection for non-regular employees is weak, it seems to have a certain significance as a policy to maintain employmentin ti mes ofr ecession.
