Unemployment Benefits: Some Rules

Day 169 of writing every day.

If anyone has been keeping up with my blog, I wrote about going to Hello Work two weeks ago or so. I know because the first information session had been scheduled two weeks after I went into the office. In short, it was a boring presentation I was falling asleep in, due in part to post lunch sleepiness, and in part to content being stuff I could have gone over more quickly if reading it on my own. If there was anything about COVID restrictions I liked, it was that the session was cut and people were counted as having attended if they showed up to pick up the information packets to read.

Some highlights about trying to collect unemployment benefits:

• Fraudulent attempts to receive money will result in loss of all money qualified for, and criminal charges may be pressed with the offender paying up to three times the amount of money they, based on fraudulent info, were qualified to receive.
• People who quit their job by resigning or not renewing contracts cannot receive benefits and must wait a probationary period of two to three months before they receive anything.
• Applicants must show up to their precinct’s Hello Work office at designated dates with proof of job hunting activities to qualify to receive unemployment money.
• Applicants applying for job postings through Hello Work’s job posting system must do so in-person at the office or risk getting disqualified for receiving benefits.
• Gainful employment is considered as working 20+ hours a week and those who work more than that cannot receive benefits.

For me, I qualify as doing something because I am in a paid contract to teach a children’s Aikido class. So in that respect I have to report my Aikido activities, even the volunteer hours at the main dojo where everyone pays to support the dojo and no one receives payment for their time and efforts as instructors. If I fail to report these activities, that would give reason for me getting disqualified from getting any money.

Of course, it’s almost June, so when answering my stance on finding a new job, I put down I’d start immediately if given the chance. I’m not bent on running out the clock on my visa, and I do feel ready to go back to working (if the environment is a positive one). I’m not left with much of a choice if I don’t find any job postings that look good and get hired. But, as with many foreigners in Japan who try to live an honest life here, you take what you can get.

The thing about finding a good lead is to always be looking. If there’s something good out there, it’s likely to have a lot of competition for however many seats are open. I just hope there’s something good out there and land that job. The reviews I’ve seen for dispatch companies are awful if not questionable. And unfortunately, most companies that are open to hiring devs and engineers who have no previous work experience that they’ll have to train, are dispatch companies.

Wish me luck 🤞!

Thanks for reading!