Employment Security Act

• Everyone may freely choose their occupation, as long as it does not go against the public welfare. No one may be treated discriminatorily in job placement, vocational guidance and the like because of race, nationality, creed, sex, social status, family origin, previous occupation, labor union membership or similar grounds, unless a collective agreement made between an employer and a labor union under the Labor Union Act (労働組合法), a separate Act, provides otherwise.(Art. 2(1), Art. 3(1)) (the provisions it rests on)
• Public employment security offices (公共職業安定所) do job placement, vocational guidance, employment insurance work and the other work this Act needs, serving the public free of charge. Anyone else who wants to run a free placement business (無料の職業紹介事業) needs a license from the Minister of Health, Labour and Welfare, valid for five years and for five more after each renewal — except local governments, schools and the other bodies listed under exceptions.(Art. 8(1), Art. 33(1), Art. 33(3), Art. 33(4), Art. 32-6(2), Art. 32-6(5)) (the provisions it rests on)
• Anyone who wants to run a fee-charging placement business (有料の職業紹介事業) needs a license from the Minister of Health, Labour and Welfare, valid for three years and, after each renewal, five. A licensed agency may charge only fees of the kinds and amounts a Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare Order sets, or fees under a fee schedule it has notified to the Minister in advance, and must not charge job seekers at all, except where such an Order finds charging them necessary for their own benefit. It must not place job seekers in port transport work, construction work, or other occupations such an Order names as ones where fee-charging placement could harm the protection of the workers in them.(Art. 30(1), Art. 32-6(1), Art. 32-6(2), Art. 32-6(5), Art. 32-3(1), Art. 32-3(2), Art. 32-11(1)) (the provisions it rests on)
• Public employment security offices, local governments that run placement and placement agencies must accept every job opening, but may refuse one whose content breaks the law, whose wages, working hours or other conditions are far worse than usual, or that lacks the required statement of working conditions. They may also refuse one from a gang member (暴力団員), a company with a gang member among its officers or a business a gang member controls; from an employer that has faced a penalty, public naming or other measure under an Act for breaking labor-law provisions a Cabinet Order names (in cases a Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare Order sets); or from an employer that, without a legitimate reason, does not report when they ask it to so they can check these points. They must accept every job application unless its content breaks the law.(Art. 5-6(1), Art. 5-6(1)(i), Art. 5-6(1)(ii), Art. 5-6(1)(iii), Art. 5-6(1)(iv), Art. 5-6(1)(v), Art. 5-6(1)(vi), Art. 5-6(2), Art. 5-6(3), Art. 5-7(1)) (the provisions it rests on)
• An employer who has someone other than its own employees recruit workers for it needs a license from the Minister of Health, Labour and Welfare if it pays them, with the amount of pay approved by the Minister in advance, and must notify the Minister if it does not pay them. Neither the employer nor such a commissioned recruiter (募集受託者) may take any payment, under any name, from the workers who answer the recruitment. The employer may pay those who recruit for it only wages or similar pay to its own employees, or the approved pay to commissioned recruiters.(Art. 36(1), Art. 36(2), Art. 36(3), Art. 39(1), Art. 40(1)) (the provisions it rests on)
• A job-information business (募集情報等提供事業) passes job offers on to people looking for work, or information about those people on to employers and agencies; one that collects information on people looking for work (特定募集情報等提供事業) must notify the Minister of Health, Labour and Welfare before it starts, and must not take any payment, under any name, from workers who answer the job offers it carried. Every job-information business must deal properly and promptly with complaints from people looking for work, employers, agencies and others, and set up what it needs to do so.(Art. 4(6), Art. 4(7), Art. 43-2(1), Art. 43-3(1), Art. 43-7(1), Art. 43-7(2)) (the provisions it rests on)
• Public employment security offices, local governments that run placement, placement agencies, employers recruiting, commissioned recruiters, job-information businesses and worker suppliers must not make false or misleading statements when they give information on job offers or on people looking for work in advertisements, posted or handed-out documents, or other ways a Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare Order names. Employers recruiting and their recruiters must keep that information accurate and up to date, and the others must take the steps such an Order sets to keep it so.(Art. 5-4(1), Art. 5-4(2), Art. 5-4(3)) (the provisions it rests on)
• Public employment security offices, local governments that run placement, placement agencies, employers recruiting (other than those a Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare Order names), commissioned recruiters and labor unions supplying workers must not place, recruit or supply workers for a workplace where a strike or lockout is under way. The same applies once a Labor Relations Commission (労働委員会) has told a public employment security office that a dispute likely to lead to one has broken out there and that unlimited placement would hinder its settlement, and the office has passed this on — except to keep up the number of workers the workplace normally employed before the dispute.(Art. 20(1), Art. 20(2), Art. 29-8(1), Art. 34(1), Art. 42-2(1), Art. 46(1)) (the provisions it rests on)
• No one may run a worker supply business (労働者供給事業) — having workers work under another person's direction under a supply contract, worker dispatch (労働者派遣) excepted — or put workers from such a business to work under their own direction. The only exception is a labor union or similar body (労働組合等) licensed by the Minister of Health, Labour and Welfare, which may run one free of charge. Worker dispatch and related businesses are governed by separate Acts: the Worker Dispatching Act (労働者派遣法), the Port Labor Act (港湾労働法) and the Act on construction workers' employment (建設労働法).(Art. 4(8), Art. 4(12), Art. 44(1), Art. 45(1), Art. 47-2(1)) (the provisions it rests on)
• Public employment security offices, local governments that run placement, placement agencies, employers posting jobs or recruiting, commissioned recruiters, job-information businesses that collect information on people looking for work, worker suppliers and those taking supplied workers may collect job seekers' personal information only as far as their business needs, making its purpose clear in the way a Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare Order sets, and may keep and use it only within that purpose — unless the person consents or there is another legitimate reason; they must also manage it properly. Agencies, employers and the others named in Article 51, and their agents and staff, must not reveal secrets learned in their work without a legitimate reason, nor needlessly let others know personal information learned there, even after they leave that role.(Art. 5-5(1), Art. 5-5(2), Art. 51(1), Art. 51(2)) (the provisions it rests on)

• 1 April 2026

  The text on this site

  Act Partially Amending the School Education Act

  学校教育法の一部を改正する法律

  Act No. 50 of 2024The text after this amendment, on e-Gov

• 1 June 2025

  Act on the Arrangement of Related Acts upon the Enforcement of the Act Partially Amending the Penal Code, etc.

  刑法等の一部を改正する法律の施行に伴う関係法律の整理等に関する法律

  Act No. 68 of 2022The text after this amendment, on e-Gov

• 1 October 2022

  Act Partially Amending the Employment Insurance Act, etc.

  雇用保険法等の一部を改正する法律

  Act No. 12 of 2022The text after this amendment, on e-Gov

• 17 June 2022

  Act on the Arrangement of Related Acts upon the Enforcement of the Act Partially Amending the Penal Code, etc.

  刑法等の一部を改正する法律の施行に伴う関係法律の整理等に関する法律

  Act No. 68 of 2022The text after this amendment, on e-Gov

• 1 April 2022

  Act Partially Amending the Employment Insurance Act, etc.

  雇用保険法等の一部を改正する法律

  Act No. 12 of 2022The text after this amendment, on e-Gov

• 31 March 2022

  Act Partially Amending the Employment Insurance Act, etc.

  雇用保険法等の一部を改正する法律

  Act No. 12 of 2022The text after this amendment, on e-Gov

• 30 March 2020

  Act Partially Amending the Employment Insurance Act, etc.

  雇用保険法等の一部を改正する法律

  Act No. 14 of 2017The text after this amendment, on e-Gov

• 14 September 2019

  Act on the Development of Related Acts to Rationalize Measures concerning the Restriction of Rights of Adult Wards, etc.

  成年被後見人等の権利の制限に係る措置の適正化等を図るための関係法律の整備に関する法律

  Act No. 37 of 2019The text after this amendment, on e-Gov

• 14 June 2019

  Act on the Development of Related Acts to Rationalize Measures concerning the Restriction of Rights of Adult Wards, etc.

  成年被後見人等の権利の制限に係る措置の適正化等を図るための関係法律の整備に関する法律

  Act No. 37 of 2019The text after this amendment, on e-Gov

• 1 April 2019

  Act on the Arrangement of Related Acts to Promote Work Style Reform

  働き方改革を推進するための関係法律の整備に関する法律

  Act No. 71 of 2018The text after this amendment, on e-Gov

All 13 amendments already in force

• Schools other than elementary schools and kindergartens may run free placement for their own students and former students on notice to the Minister of Health, Labour and Welfare, without a license. So may specialized training colleges (専修学校), the vocational training facilities a separate Act lists (職業能力開発促進法) and the Polytechnic University (職業能力開発総合大学校), for their students, trainees and graduates, and corporations set up under a special Act that a Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare Order names, for their members and members' employees.(Art. 33(1), Art. 33-2(1), Art. 33-2(1)(i), Art. 33-2(1)(ii), Art. 33-2(1)(iii), Art. 33-2(1)(iv), Art. 33-3(1)) (the provisions it rests on)
• Local governments may run free placement without a license, telling the Minister of Health, Labour and Welfare that they do. A local government running a job-information business need not notify the Minister, the Minister's guidelines, guidance and improvement orders do not apply to that business, and neither placement nor job-information work by a local government is subject to the reports and inspections of Article 50.(Art. 29(1), Art. 29(2), Art. 33(1), Art. 43-9(1), Art. 50(1), Art. 50(2)) (the provisions it rests on)
• A local government or agency that has set, and for an agency notified, the range of occupations and other scope it handles (取扱職種の範囲等), or a school or training facility that set a range when giving notice, need accept job openings and applications only within that range. A fee-charging agency need not accept job openings or applications for the occupations it may not place in.(Art. 29(3), Art. 29(4), Art. 32-12(1), Art. 32-12(2), Art. 33(4), Art. 33-2(5), Art. 33-2(6), Art. 32-11(2)) (the provisions it rests on)

• The Minister of Health, Labour and Welfare publishes guidelines on equal treatment, stating working conditions, accurate job information and job seekers' personal information, among other duties, and, where needed, may give guidance and advice to agencies, employers posting jobs or recruiting, commissioned recruiters, job-information businesses, worker suppliers and those taking supplied workers. Where an agency, an employer recruiting workers, a commissioned recruiter, a job-information business or a worker supplier breaks this Act or an order made under it in its business, the Minister may order it to take the measures needed to run that business properly; breaking that order is punishable by up to six months' imprisonment (拘禁刑) or a fine of up to 300,000 yen.(Art. 48(1), Art. 48-2(1), Art. 48-3(1), Art. 65(1)(viii)) (the provisions it rests on)
• Where an employer posting a job, or a person taking supplied workers, does not state working conditions or changes to them as Article 5-3(2) and (3) require, or gives a false report when an office or agency asks about its job opening — or, after guidance, is still likely to break those rules — the Minister may recommend the measures needed to put it right. If an employer recruiting workers does not follow an improvement order or such a recommendation, the Minister may make that public.(Art. 48-3(2), Art. 48-3(3)) (the provisions it rests on)
• The Minister may revoke a placement agency's license if it falls under a ground on which a license must be refused — such as a sentence of imprisonment (拘禁刑), or a fine for certain offences, served less than five years ago, bankruptcy without restoration of rights, or being a gang member (暴力団員) — or if it breaks this Act, the Worker Dispatching Act (労働者派遣法) or an order or disposition under them, or the conditions attached to its license. For either of the last two, the Minister may also order all or part of its business suspended for a set period; breaking that order is punishable by up to one year's imprisonment or a fine of up to 1,000,000 yen.(Art. 32(1), Art. 32(1)(i), Art. 32(1)(iv), Art. 32(1)(ix), Art. 32-9(1), Art. 32-9(2), Art. 33(4), Art. 64(1)(ii)) (the provisions it rests on)
• If this Act, the Worker Dispatching Act or an order or disposition under them is broken, the Minister may revoke the license for paid recruitment through outsiders or for a union's worker supply, or suspend that recruitment or all or part of that supply for a set period, and may order recruitment done on notice stopped or suspended. A job-information business that collects information on people looking for work can be ordered to suspend all or part of its business for a set period if it breaks the rules on personal information, payments from workers or secrecy, or an improvement order.(Art. 41(1), Art. 41(2), Art. 46(1), Art. 43-4(1)) (the provisions it rests on)
• Where it is especially needed to balance labor supply and demand, the Minister of Health, Labour and Welfare or the head of a public employment security office may, giving reasons and in the way a Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare Order sets, restrict when, how many, where and how an employer recruits (other than licensed paid recruitment through outsiders), and the Minister may give instructions on these when licensing such recruitment. Not following a restriction or instruction is punishable by up to six months' imprisonment (拘禁刑) or a fine of up to 300,000 yen.(Art. 37(1), Art. 37(2), Art. 65(1)(v)) (the provisions it rests on)
• To the extent the Act needs, the authorities may require anyone running a placement business (other than a local government running free placement), employers posting jobs or recruiting, commissioned recruiters, job-information businesses (other than local governments), anyone running a worker supply business and those taking supplied workers to report, and may send officials into their workplaces to question people and inspect books and documents; the officials must carry and show identification, and the power is not one for criminal investigation. They may also, where needed, ask any employer to report on hiring, people leaving, wages and other working conditions. Not reporting or reporting falsely, refusing or obstructing an inspection, or refusing to answer questions or answering falsely, is punishable by a fine of up to 300,000 yen.(Art. 50(1), Art. 50(2), Art. 50(3), Art. 50(4), Art. 49(1), Art. 66(1)(ix), Art. 66(1)(x)) (the provisions it rests on)
• Where a local government that runs placement, an agency, an employer posting jobs or recruiting, a commissioned recruiter, a job-information business, a worker supplier or a person taking supplied workers breaks this Act or an order made under it, the job seekers, workers and supplied workers it dealt with — including workers who answered a job offer the business carried or whose information it passed on — may report it to the Minister of Health, Labour and Welfare and ask for suitable action. The Minister must look into it and, if the report is true, take the measures this Act provides or other suitable action.(Art. 48-4(1), Art. 48-4(2)) (the provisions it rests on)
• Placing, recruiting or supplying workers by violence, threats, confinement or other means that unjustly restrain a person's mental or physical freedom, or placing, recruiting, passing on job information about or supplying workers in order to put them in work harmful to public health or public morals, is punishable by one to ten years' imprisonment (拘禁刑) or a fine of 200,000 to 3,000,000 yen.(Art. 63(1), Art. 63(1)(i), Art. 63(1)(ii)) (the provisions it rests on)
• Running a fee-charging or free placement business without the required license, getting a license or its renewal by deception, letting someone else run placement in one's own name, placing job seekers in occupations a fee-charging agency may not, paying outsiders to recruit without a license, running or using worker supply against Article 44, or breaking an order to suspend or stop a placement, recruitment, worker supply or job-information business, is punishable by up to one year's imprisonment (拘禁刑) or a fine of up to 1,000,000 yen.(Art. 64(1), Art. 64(1)(i), Art. 64(1)(i-2), Art. 64(1)(ii), Art. 64(1)(iii), Art. 64(1)(iv), Art. 64(1)(v), Art. 64(1)(vi), Art. 64(1)(vii), Art. 64(1)(viii), Art. 64(1)(ix), Art. 64(1)(x)) (the provisions it rests on)
• Using false advertisements or false conditions to place, recruit, pass on job information about or supply workers, posting a job opening with false conditions, or placing, recruiting or supplying workers for a workplace whose working conditions break the law, is punishable by up to six months' imprisonment (拘禁刑) or a fine of up to 300,000 yen. The same penalty applies to charging placement fees the Act does not allow, including to job seekers; taking payment from recruited workers, or paying recruiters other than as allowed; recruiting through outsiders without the required approval or notice; ignoring a recruitment restriction or instruction; and running placement by a school or special corporation, or a job-information business that collects information on people looking for work, without the required notice.(Art. 65(1), Art. 65(1)(ii), Art. 65(1)(iii), Art. 65(1)(iv), Art. 65(1)(v), Art. 65(1)(vi), Art. 65(1)(vii), Art. 65(1)(ix), Art. 65(1)(x), Art. 65(1)(xi)) (the provisions it rests on)
• Other breaches, such as false statements in a license application or notice, not notifying changes to the business or its closure, not appointing a placement manager (職業紹介責任者), not keeping the required books, or revealing secrets learned in the work, are punishable by a fine of up to 300,000 yen. Where a representative, agent or employee commits any offence in Articles 63 to 66 in the business of a company or person, that company or person is fined as well.(Art. 66(1), Art. 66(1)(i), Art. 66(1)(iii), Art. 66(1)(iv), Art. 66(1)(v), Art. 66(1)(vi), Art. 66(1)(vii), Art. 66(1)(viii), Art. 66(1)(xi), Art. 67(1)) (the provisions it rests on)