Japan’s Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare Produces Draft Report on Disability Employment Guidelines

From The Fukushi Shimbun

February 7 2026

TOKYO – A meeting of the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare’s “Study Group on the Future of the Employment Promotion System for Persons with Disabilities” (chaired by Ryuichi Yamakawa, professor at Meiji University) was held on January 30, where a draft report was compiled. To improve the quality of employment for persons with disabilities, elements that the government should prioritize will be compiled into guidelines and stipulated in laws and regulations. Guidelines will also be formulated for the rapidly increasing disability employment business sector, and user companies will be required to submit certain reports so that authorities can provide guidance and supervision.

Future deliberations will be taken over by the Disability Employment Subcommittee of the Labour Policy Council. The subcommittee aims to finalize its discussions within this year and plans to review the Act on Employment Promotion of Persons with Disabilities and related legislation in 2027.

Ensuring the quality of employment for persons with disabilities has long been an issue. However, since the statutory employment rate for companies has been raised in stages from April 2024, attention has tended to focus on the number of hires, leading to a rapid increase in companies’ use of disability employment businesses.

The quality guidelines will include content related to enabling persons with disabilities to demonstrate their abilities, appropriate employment management, and fair evaluation. Care will be taken so that the guidelines do not become a barrier to hiring, and the timing of their application will be determined based on workplace realities. In addition, the “Monisu Certification,” currently aimed at small and medium-sized enterprises, will be expanded to large companies, and its certification standards will be reviewed and utilized. Consideration will also be given to providing adjustment payments to certified companies and counting them toward the actual employment rate.

Guidelines for disability employment businesses will stipulate the placement of qualified personnel, implementation of staff training, and disclosure of information. User companies will be required to submit reports so that inappropriate cases can be subject to administrative guidance. However, as the definition and scope of such businesses are not currently clear, further examination will be necessary.

For patients with intractable diseases who do not possess disability certificates and are therefore outside the employment rate system, consideration will be given to establishing criteria to assess individual employment difficulty (degree of restriction in working life) so they can be counted in the actual employment rate. Additionally, within the employment rate system, a new “severe” category, which exists for persons with physical and intellectual disabilities but not for those with mental disabilities, will be created. As a rule, short-time workers are counted as 0.5 persons, but the current special provision that counts persons with mental disabilities as one person will be maintained.

Debate will continue on expanding the scope of companies obligated to pay disability employment levies to include those with 100 or fewer regular employees.