How Much Is Unemployment Benefit in Japan? Calculation and a Monthly Salary Table
Japan's unemployment benefit (the basic allowance under employment insurance) isn't a flat percentage of your monthly salary. It's calculated by applying a benefit rate of 50 to 80% to a daily wage derived from your pay for the 6 months before leaving. The rate is higher for lower wages, and there are caps by age. This article covers the 3-step calculation, what counts toward the daily wage, how the rate is set, a table by monthly salary, and the upper and lower limits.
Three steps decide the amount
What people in Japan commonly call unemployment insurance (shitsugyo hoken) is the basic allowance under employment insurance. The total you receive is the daily amount (basic daily allowance) times the days you can receive it (scheduled benefit days). The daily amount is calculated in this order.
- 1
Find the daily wage
Divide the total wages paid in the 6 months before leaving (gross, excluding bonuses) by 180, dropping any fraction of a yen. With 300,000 yen a month, that's 1,800,000 yen ÷ 180 = 10,000 yen.
- 2
Apply the upper and lower limits
The daily wage has an upper limit by age at the time of leaving (16,110 yen for ages 30 to 44, for example) and a lower limit shared by all ages (3,014 yen). Any amount above the limit isn't counted.
- 3
Apply the benefit rate
The basic daily allowance is the daily wage times a benefit rate of 50 to 80% (45 to 80% for ages 60 to 64). With a daily wage of 10,000 yen (under 60), the rate is about 62%, so the basic daily allowance is 6,207 yen.
With a basic daily allowance of 6,207 yen, leaving by your own choice with under 10 years of employment insurance (90 scheduled benefit days), the total is 6,207 yen × 90 days = 558,630 yen. The number of days varies greatly by reason for leaving and length of insurance, as explained in how many days of unemployment benefit you can get.
What counts toward the daily wage
The wages behind the daily wage are generally everything paid monthly as compensation for work. That includes not just base pay but also overtime and allowances. Bonuses paid up to 3 times a year and retirement pay aren't included. The amount is counted before tax and social insurance, so look at total gross pay on your pay slip rather than your take-home pay.
| Included | Not included |
|---|---|
| Base pay | Bonuses paid up to 3 times a year |
| Overtime, late-night and holiday pay | Retirement pay |
| Commuting allowance (including commuter passes) | Gifts such as wedding or sympathy money |
| Housing, family and position allowances | Reimbursements such as business travel expenses |
| Bonuses paid 4 or more times a year | Sickness allowance (paid by health insurance) |
Months with a lot of overtime raise the daily wage. For example, if your salary is 300,000 yen a month and you earned 150,000 yen of overtime in total over the 6 months before leaving, your 6-month wages are 1,950,000 yen, your daily wage is 10,833 yen and your basic daily allowance is 6,377 yen (age 35). That's 170 yen a day more than the 6,207 yen with no overtime. If your pay varies by month, add up the total gross pay on 6 months of pay slips.
The benefit rate is higher for lower wages
The benefit rate isn't flat. It's set so that lower daily wages get higher rates (Article 16 of the Employment Insurance Act). The bands from August 1, 2025 are as follows.
| Daily wage | Approx. monthly salary | Rate (under 60) | Rate (ages 60–64) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 5,340 yen | Under about 160,000 yen | 80% | 80% |
| 5,340 to 11,800 yen | About 160,000 to 354,000 yen | Falls from 80% to about 55% | Falls from 80% to 45% |
| 11,800 to 13,140 yen | About 354,000 to 394,000 yen | Falls from about 55% to 50% | 45% |
| Over 13,140 yen | Over about 394,000 yen | 50% | 45% |
Between the bands, the rate falls little by little for each yen of daily wage. The formula for under 60 is 0.8 × daily wage − 0.3 × {(daily wage − 5,340) ÷ (13,140 − 5,340)} × daily wage. This means a 100,000-yen difference in monthly salary changes the basic daily allowance only slightly: between a 300,000-yen salary (6,207 yen) and a 400,000-yen salary (6,666 yen), the gap is just 459 yen a day.
Table by monthly salary
This is the basic daily allowance when gross monthly salary was the same for all 6 months before leaving. Under 60 uses the limit for ages 30 to 44. "30 days" is a guide to the monthly amount.
| Monthly salary | Daily wage | Basic daily allowance (under 60) | 30 days | % of monthly salary | Daily amount, ages 60–64 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 150,000 yen | 5,000 yen | 4,000 yen | 120,000 yen | 80% | 4,000 yen |
| 180,000 yen | 6,000 yen | 4,647 yen | 139,410 yen | 77% | 4,585 yen |
| 200,000 yen | 6,666 yen | 4,992 yen | 149,760 yen | 75% | 4,853 yen |
| 220,000 yen | 7,333 yen | 5,304 yen | 159,120 yen | 72% | 5,074 yen |
| 250,000 yen | 8,333 yen | 5,707 yen | 171,210 yen | 68% | 5,136 yen |
| 280,000 yen | 9,333 yen | 6,033 yen | 180,990 yen | 65% | 5,186 yen |
| 300,000 yen | 10,000 yen | 6,207 yen | 186,210 yen | 62% | 5,220 yen |
| 350,000 yen | 11,666 yen | 6,494 yen | 194,820 yen | 56% | 5,303 yen |
| 400,000 yen | 13,333 yen | 6,666 yen | 199,980 yen | 50% | 5,999 yen |
| 450,000 yen | 15,000 yen | 7,500 yen | 225,000 yen | 50% | 6,750 yen |
| 500,000 yen | 16,666 yen | 8,055 yen (limit) | 241,650 yen | 48% | 7,499 yen |
As a guide, a 200,000-yen salary gets about 75% of the salary, 300,000 yen about 62%, and 400,000 yen or more 50%. As a share of take-home pay it's a bit higher. Check your take-home pay before leaving in how to calculate take-home pay. Unemployment benefit is also tax-free, with no income or resident tax.
Upper and lower limits by age
The daily wage has an upper limit by age at the time of leaving, so however high your salary, the basic daily allowance goes no higher than the amounts below. The limits are revised every August 1 in line with average wages in the Monthly Labour Survey. The table shows amounts from August 1, 2025.
| Age at leaving | Daily wage limit | Basic daily allowance limit | Monthly salary at the limit (approx.) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 29 or under | 14,510 yen | 7,255 yen | About 435,000 yen |
| 30 to 44 | 16,110 yen | 8,055 yen | About 483,000 yen |
| 45 to 59 | 17,740 yen | 8,870 yen | About 532,000 yen |
| 60 to 64 | 16,940 yen | 7,623 yen | About 508,000 yen |
The lower limits, shared by all ages, are a daily wage of 3,014 yen and a basic daily allowance of 2,411 yen. If your daily wage is below 3,014 yen, as with short-hours part-time work, it's calculated as 3,014 yen. If you leave at 65 or over, you get a lump-sum older jobseeker benefit instead of the basic allowance, with the same limit as age 29 or under (see unemployment benefit when leaving at 60 or 65).
Calculate your own amount with the tool
In the "How much" tab of the Unemployment Benefit Calculator, enter your reason for leaving, age, monthly salary (or 6-month total) and length of insurance to see the daily wage, benefit rate, basic daily allowance, scheduled benefit days and total with a breakdown. The chart tab compares monthly salaries of 150,000 to 600,000 yen by age band.
When you can start receiving benefits after quitting by choice is explained in when unemployment benefit starts after quitting, and the money you get for finding a job early in how much the reemployment allowance is.
FAQ
- Is unemployment benefit calculated from take-home or gross pay?
- Gross pay, the total before tax and social insurance. The daily wage is the total gross pay for the 6 months before leaving divided by 180. It includes overtime, commuting and housing allowances, and excludes bonuses paid up to 3 times a year.
- How much do I get on a monthly salary of 200,000 yen?
- The daily wage is 6,666 yen and the basic daily allowance is 4,992 yen (under 60), or 149,760 yen for 30 days. At 90 days for leaving by choice with under 10 years of insurance, the total is 449,280 yen. At 180 days, for a 35-year-old with 5 years of insurance leaving for company reasons, it's 898,560 yen.
- What's the daily maximum for unemployment benefit?
- From August 1, 2025, the basic daily allowance limit is 7,255 yen for 29 or under, 8,055 yen for ages 30 to 44, 8,870 yen for ages 45 to 59 and 7,623 yen for ages 60 to 64. Above a monthly salary of about 430,000 to 530,000 yen, the amount doesn't increase however high your pay.
- Do bonuses count toward unemployment benefit?
- Bonuses paid up to 3 times a year don't. The daily wage uses only monthly pay, so for the same annual income, the larger the share of bonuses, the lower the basic daily allowance. Bonuses paid 4 or more times a year are included in wages.
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