Unemployment benefit in Japan: how much and when (2026)

When you leave a job in Japan, employment insurance (雇用保険) pays a daily Basic Allowance (基本手当) while you look for the next one. Enter your last six months of pay and why you left, and this shows the daily amount, how many days of it there are, and a calendar of when each payment would arrive. If you find work early, it adds up the re-employment allowance (再就職手当). Nothing you type leaves your browser.

Rates from 1 Aug 2026 (令和8年8月1日〜) Employment insurance Free, no sign-up

An estimate, not a decision. Hello Work (ハローワーク) decides whether you qualify, the daily amount, the number of days and the certification dates, from your unemployment certificate (離職票) and your application. Check your own case with the Hello Work office for your address. This page does not fill in forms or give individual advice.

Not covered: day labourers and seasonal workers, the benefit for job seekers aged 65 or over (高年齢求職者給付金), the injury and sickness allowance within employment insurance, public servants, working while the benefit is restricted, extensions of the benefit period, and the minimum wage guarantee for daily or hourly pay.

Each payment follows a certification of unemployment. The calendar assumes you stay available for work in Japan, keep looking for it here and go to Hello Work on each certification day. If you plan to leave Japan, or cannot keep looking for work here, ask Hello Work before you go: this page does not work out what happens then.

1. Leaving and pay

Try an example:

Date of birthAs on your residence card (在留カード). Last day of employmentYour age on this day decides the rates and the number of days.

The day you apply at Hello WorkThe day you register as a job seeker and hand in the unemployment certificate (離職票). The 7-day waiting period starts here. The notice usually reaches you about ten days after you leave.

Pay for the last six months

The six most recent full wage months before you left: whole pay periods (closing date to closing date) with at least 11 paid days. Include overtime and commuting allowance, before deductions. Leave out bonuses paid three times a year or less, and leave out the part-month up to your last day.

Six-month total Month by month

Total pay for the six monthsYen. The same six months as the wage section of your unemployment certificate.

I have at least six full wage months Fewer than six (a short job, for example) is worked out on a different basis, which this page does not do. My pay in those six months was lower because of childcare or family-care leave or shorter hours, a company-ordered leave with a shutdown allowance (休業手当), or illness or injury Hello Work can calculate the daily wage differently in these cases. This page cannot, so ticking this stops the calculation. Something unusual applies: allowances paid every three months or more often than quarterly bonuses, unpaid wages whose amount is not settled, seafarer pay, a change of pay closing date during the six months, or an education and training leave benefit (教育訓練休暇給付金) Each has its own rule. Ticking this stops the calculation.

2. Why you left, and how long you were insured

Reason for leaving Hello Work decides the reason, from the unemployment certificate and what you tell them. Resigning because of unpaid wages, a large pay cut, heavy overtime, harassment or being encouraged to leave can count as being pushed out. A fixed-term contract renewed for three years or more, or one that promised renewal, counts as a layoff when it ends.

Not sure which reason fits?

Hello Work publishes the full list of circumstances for 特定受給資格者 (people who lost their job through the employer) and 特定理由離職者 (people with a justified reason, or whose contract was not renewed). Each has detailed conditions, and moving house by your own choice is not one of them. If you are unsure, run the calculator with “I resigned for my own reasons” as well and compare — that is the case with a restriction period.

Other resignations for your own reasons in the last five years that led to an unemployment benefit decision Not counting this one. Two or more makes the restriction period three months. How long you were covered by employment insurance Earlier jobs count if the gap was a year or less and you did not receive the benefit for them. Periods on childcare leave benefit are taken out. In the two years before leaving, I had at least 12 months with 11 or more paid days (or 80 or more hours) If you were laid off or had a justified reason, six such months in the last year is enough. Months before an earlier job you already had a benefit decision for do not count. If this is not true you do not qualify, and nothing is calculated. I have a disability certificate or am otherwise recognised as having difficulty finding work (就職困難者) A separate table of 150 to 360 days applies.

3. If you find a job (optional)

Start date of the new jobLeave empty to skip the re-employment allowance. The chart below is drawn either way. Monthly pay in the new jobBefore deductions. Used for the retention allowance and the chart. May be left empty.

The job came through Hello Work or a licensed placement agency If you have a restriction period and start work within a month after the waiting period ends, the re-employment allowance needs a job found this way. Applying on your own through the Hello Work website does not count.

The allowance has other conditions this page assumes you meet: the job is expected to last more than a year, it is not with your last employer, and you have not had a re-employment allowance in the past three years.

The calendar (rough dates)

Start date of a new job, and what you receive

Benefits received (Basic Allowance so far + re-employment allowance + retention allowance) Plus the new job's pay to the end of the benefit period

Across: the day you start the new job. Up: yen. The re-employment allowance stops once fewer than a third of your days are left.

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About these figures

What the calculation assumes, and the rules behind it, are worked through in:

How it works

The daily wage and the daily amount

The daily wage (賃金日額, the The daily wage (賃金日額) isldquo;wage daily amountThe daily wage (賃金日額) isrdquo; in Hello WorkThe daily wage (賃金日額) isrsquo;s English leaflets) is six months of pay, bonuses excluded, divided by 180. The daily amount of the Basic Allowance (基本手当日額) is between about 50% and 80% of it (45% to 80% at 60 to 64) — the lower the pay, the higher the percentage. From 1 August 2026 the formula, rounded down to the yen, is:

Daily wage (w)	Daily amount
¥3,203 to under ¥5,480	0.8w
¥5,480 to ¥13,490 (to ¥12,120 at 60–64)	0.8w − 0.3 × (w − 5,480) ÷ 8,010 × w (at 60–64, the lower of 0.8w − 0.35 × (w − 5,480) ÷ 6,640 × w and 0.05w + 4,848)
Above that, up to the cap	0.5w (0.45w at 60–64)

Age on the last day	Daily wage cap	Daily amount cap
Under 30	¥14,900	¥7,450
30 to 44	¥16,540	¥8,270
45 to 59	¥18,220	¥9,110
60 to 64	¥17,400	¥7,830
Any age (the floor)	¥3,203	¥2,562

The number of days

The prescribed number of days (所定給付日数) depends on your age, how long you were insured, and why you left.

Laid off, or contract not renewed	Under 1 year	1–5 years	5–10 years	10–20 years	20 years +
Under 30	90	90	120	180	—
30 to 34	90	120	180	210	240
35 to 44	90	150	180	240	270
45 to 59	90	180	240	270	330
60 to 64	90	150	180	210	240
Everybody else, any age	90 (justified reason only)	90	90	120	150

Somebody recognised as having difficulty finding work gets 150 days with under a year of cover, and otherwise 300 days under 45 and 360 days from 45 to 64. A fixed-term contract that was not renewed gets the layoff column only if the last day is on or before 31 March 2027.

Waiting, restriction, certification

Waiting period (待期): the first 7 days after you apply are not paid.
Benefit payment restriction (給付制限), the restriction period: if you resigned for your own reasons, nothing is paid for one month after the waiting period (for a last day on or after 1 April 2025; two months before that). It is three months if you have resigned for your own reasons twice before in the five years to this last day and had a benefit decision each time, and three months after a dismissal for serious misconduct.
Certification of unemployment (失業の認定): about every four weeks you go to Hello Work and they certify the days since the last visit. This page places those days every 28 days from your application. Hello Work gives you the real ones.
Payment: usually about five business days after each certification day.
Benefit period (受給期間): one year from the day after you leave (a year and 30 days for 330 days of benefit, a year and 60 days for 360). With a restriction period, if the restriction plus 21 days plus your days of benefit is longer than that, the period is extended by the difference. Days not paid by the end of the period are lost, which is why applying late can cost money.

Finding work early

re-employment allowance (再就職手当) = days left × 70% or 60% × the daily amount (capped at ¥6,745, or ¥5,454 at 60–64). 70% if at least two-thirds of your days are left, 60% if at least a third; less than a third, none.
A job that starts during the waiting period does not qualify.
employment promotion retention allowance (就業促進定着手当): if you stay six months and the new job pays less per day than the old one did, (old daily wage − new daily wage) × the days in those six months, capped at 20% of the daily amount (with the cap above) × the days you had left. This page takes six months of the new salary ÷ 180 as the new daily wage.

Tax

The Basic Allowance is not taxed (雇用保険法12条): no income tax and no resident tax, and it is not counted as income for either. Health insurance and pension after you leave are yours to pay and are not on this page.

What this page does not do

Decide whether you qualify, the reason for leaving, or the certification dates. Hello Work does.
The special daily-wage rules for pay reduced by leave, shorter hours, company-ordered leave or illness; pay that is not monthly; wages from more than one employer; extensions for illness, pregnancy or childcare; training that lifts the restriction; extended benefits during vocational training.
Health insurance, pension and resident tax after you leave. See what happens to resident tax when you change jobs.

A worked example in plain English: Unemployment benefit in Japan for foreign residents.

Sources

Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare — 基本手当日額の計算式及び金額（令和8年8月1日〜） and 雇用保険の基本手当日額が変更になります〜令和8年8月1日から〜 (the formula, the caps and floors, and the re-employment allowance caps)
Hello Work — 基本手当の所定給付日数, 基本手当について, 雇用保険の具体的な手続き, 特定受給資格者及び特定理由離職者の範囲 and 就職促進給付
Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare — 雇用保険に関する業務取扱要領 57001〜58000（就職促進給付）, 57051(1)イ (the days left when a job starts during the restriction period are counted from the day after the restriction ends)
Iwate Labour Bureau — 令和7年4月1日以降に離職された方は給付制限期間が1か月に短縮されます
Employment Insurance Act (雇用保険法) 第12条 (benefits are not taxed) and 第33条 (the restriction period and the extended benefit period)

The calculation is the same engine as Tekiba’s Japanese 退職後カレンダー, copied file for file, and its tests pin the formula and the table of days to the sources above. It is an estimate, not advice.