Retirement allowance

Japanese: 退職金 - たいしょくきん（英語表記）retirement allowance

A general term for monetary benefits paid by a company to a worker when he or she retires. It is called various names depending on the company and the reason for retirement, such as retirement allowance, severance pay, retirement bonus, and retirement merit bonus. Depending on the method of payment, retirement benefits are broadly divided into retirement lump sums (paid as a lump sum) and retirement pensions (paid as an annuity, also known as corporate pensions). Sometimes the term "retirement benefits" refers only to the former.

[Toshikazu Yokoyama]

History

The practice of providing monetary benefits at the time of retirement has a long history, and its origins can be traced back to the apprenticeship system, but retirement benefits did not appear as a corporate welfare system until after the Meiji Restoration. However, during the Meiji period, monetary benefits at the time of retirement were merely a benevolent gift from companies to keep workers tied to the company under poor working conditions. The successive depressions that hit Japanese capitalism from the Taisho period to the early Showa period and the resulting mass layoffs led to frequent labor disputes and made labor unions' demands for post-retirement security more apparent. This triggered the widespread adoption of retirement benefit systems, particularly in large companies. Since the system was expected to play a role in partially complementing the policy of oppressing labor unions, it still had a strong character of rewarding meritorious service, but at the same time, it indicated an evolution from a simple measure to hold workers in place to one that also provided a function of securing a living in the event of unemployment. In 1936 (Showa 11), the Retirement Fund and Retirement Allowance Law was enacted, making what had been a voluntary company practice mandatory and giving rise to a labor-management fund system (this law was absorbed into the former Employees' Pension Insurance Law in 1944).

After the Second World War, labor unions were rebuilt as large-scale mass movements and fought to institutionalize retirement benefits as one of the conditions of employment. With the backdrop of these labor union demands and movements, the retirement benefit system spread rapidly around 1948 (Showa 23) and became established as a part of the conditions of employment. In 1984, the Small and Medium Enterprise Retirement Benefit Mutual Aid Law (Law No. 160 of 1959) was enacted, and the system spread to small and medium enterprises, which had previously had difficulty managing retirement benefits.

[Toshikazu Yokoyama]

The nature of retirement benefits

Reflecting these prewar and postwar circumstances, there are various regulations regarding the nature of retirement benefits. The main ones are:
(1) The merit award theory, which sees it as a reward for achievements made during one's tenure
(2) Deferred wage payment theory, which considers it to be payment of unpaid wages at the time of retirement
(3) The life security theory, which sees it as a benefit to guarantee life after retirement. The current retirement benefits function as a compromise that combines these elements.

[Toshikazu Yokoyama]

Lump-sum retirement payment

A retirement lump sum is generally calculated by multiplying the calculation base amount by the payment rate. There are two types of calculation base amount: the amount of the salary at the time of retirement, and a specially set amount. The former is further divided into those that use the basic salary portion as the base amount as is, and those that deduct or reduce the basic salary portion in some way. The latter includes the fixed amount method, in which the amount is determined in advance, the point method, in which the calculation is calculated by converting the job grade and years of service into a certain number of points, and the separate table method, which has a calculation base amount table separate from the wage table. The payment rate is generally determined by the years of service, but it does not necessarily increase proportionally. For example, the years of service are divided into several stages and the payment rate is determined for each stage, or the payment rate is increased or decreased from a certain number of years of service. In addition, even if the years of service are the same, the payment rate usually differs depending on the reason for leaving (retirement age, company reasons, death from injury or illness in the course of work, personal reasons, etc.).

In recent years, the retirement age has been extended in response to the aging of the population, but companies have taken various measures to prevent the associated increase in the burden of lump-sum retirement payments. These include restricting the incorporation of wage increases into the calculation base amount, halting or reducing the increase in the payment rate after a certain number of years of service, and introducing an early retirement preferential system that increases the lump-sum retirement payment for workers who retire early.

The amount of retirement benefits paid varies depending on years of service, educational background, reasons for retirement, etc., but the average retirement benefits paid to male retirees aged 45 or older with 20 or more years of service (1997) were 28.71 million yen for university graduates (management, clerical, and technical positions), 19.69 million yen for high school graduates (management, clerical, and technical positions), 13.51 million yen for high school graduates (operational positions), and 11.92 million yen for junior high school graduates (operational positions). However, there are large disparities depending on the size of the company, with university graduates receiving 12.22 million yen at companies with 30-99 employees, just 38% of the amount at companies with 1,000 or more employees (32.19 million yen).

[Toshikazu Yokoyama]

Retirement pensions

Retirement pensions, another form of retirement allowance, have been gaining in popularity since the 1970s, coupled with the aforementioned movement by companies to reduce the burden of retirement allowances and the growing demand from labor unions for post-retirement security, with 20.3% of companies providing retirement pensions alone and 32.3% providing both in combination with a lump-sum retirement payment, accounting for more than 50% combined (1997). There are three types of retirement pensions: company pensions designed independently by companies, qualified pensions that receive preferential tax treatment, and adjustment pensions that are coordinated with employees' pension insurance. Of these, qualified pensions are the most popular, with 74.9% of companies providing them (1997). However, since the collapse of the bubble economy, however, the management of funds has deviated significantly from forecasts in the context of low interest rates, resulting in cases of insufficient reserves. Also, as the movement to reconsider lifetime employment has intensified, ensuring the portability of retirement pensions, whereby beneficiary rights are granted on a cumulative basis even if employees move between companies, has become an important issue. Against this backdrop, there are growing calls from companies for the introduction of a "defined contribution" retirement pension system, in which only the contribution amount is decided and future pension benefits are determined based on the accumulated reserves and investment returns, instead of the traditional "defined benefit" pension system, in which future pension benefits are decided in advance.

[Toshikazu Yokoyama]

"Annual editions of 'Retirement Benefits and Pensions', compiled and published by the Labor Management Research Institute" ▽ "Annual editions of 'Comprehensive Survey Report on Wage, Working Hours Systems, etc.' compiled by the Policy Research Department, Minister's Secretariat, Ministry of Labor (Labor Management Research Institute)" ▽ "Proposals for the Future of Corporate Pensions' (1998) by the Japan Business Federation" ▽ "'Wage and Retirement Benefit Systems in a New Era - Report of the Wage and Retirement Benefit Systems Study Group' compiled by the Labor Standards Bureau, Ministry of Labor (1998, Labor Management Research Institute)" ▽ "'Corporate Pension Big Bang' edited by Asano Yukihiro and Kaneko Yoshihiro (1998, Toyo Keizai Inc.)"

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

Japanese:

労働者の退職に際して企業が支払う金銭給付の総称。退職手当、解雇手当、退職慰労金、退職功労報奨金など、企業により、また退職事由によってさまざまな名称がある。退職金は支給方法によって、退職一時金（一時金で支払う方法）と退職年金（年金で支払う方法で、企業年金ともいう）とに大別される。このうち前者のみをさして退職金ということもある。

［横山寿一］

沿革

退職時に金銭給付を行う慣行は長い歴史をもっており、徒弟制度の「のれん分け」にその起源を求めることができるが、企業の福利厚生制度として退職金が登場するのは明治維新以後のことである。もっとも、明治期における退職時の金銭給付は、劣悪な労働条件で労働者を企業に縛り付けておくための企業による恩情的な施しでしかなかった。大正期から昭和初期にかけて日本資本主義を襲った相次ぐ恐慌とそのもとでの大量解雇は、労働争議を頻発させるとともに、労働組合の退職後における生活保障要求を顕在化させた。これを契機に、大企業を中心として退職金制度の採用が広がっていった。それは、労働組合への弾圧政策を部分的に補完する役割を担わされていたことから、依然として功労報奨的な性格を色濃くもってはいたが、同時に、そこには、単なる足止め策から、失業に際しての生活保障の機能をもあわせもつ制度への展開が示されていた。1936年（昭和11）には「退職積立金及退職手当法」が制定され、企業の自主的な慣行であったものが義務化されるとともに、労使の積立金制度の形をとることとなった（同法は1944年に旧厚生年金保険法に吸収された）。

　第二次世界大戦後、大規模な大衆的運動として再建された労働組合は、退職金を労働条件の一つとして制度化する闘いを繰り広げた。こうした労働組合の要求と運動を背景に、退職金制度は1948年（昭和23）～49年ごろに急速に普及が進み、その過程で、労働条件の一部として定着をみるに至った。59年には中小企業退職金共済法（昭和34年法律160号）が制定され、退職金運営が困難であった中小企業にも普及が進んでいった。

［横山寿一］

退職金の性格

こうした戦前・戦後の経緯を反映して、退職金の性格については、さまざまな規定がみられる。おもなものとしては、
(1)在職中の功績に対する報奨とみる功労報奨説
(2)賃金の未払い分の退職時における支払いとみる賃金後払い説
(3)退職後の生活を保障するための給付とみる生活保障説
などがある。現在の退職金は、これらの要素をあわせもつ妥協的な性格のものとして機能している。

［横山寿一］

退職一時金

退職一時金は、一般に、算定基礎額に支給率を掛け合わせて算定される。算定基礎額は、退職時の賃金を用いる場合と、特別に設定をした額を用いる場合の二つがある。前者はさらに、基本給部分をそのまま基礎額とするものと、基本給部分からなんらかの方法で控除したり減額するものとに分かれる。また後者には、あらかじめ金額を決めておく定額方式、職能等級、勤続年数などを一定の点数に置き換えて算定するポイント方式、賃金表とは別に算定基礎額テーブルをもつ別テーブル方式などがある。支給率は、一般的には勤続年数別に定められるが、かならずしも比例的に増加されるわけではなく、たとえば、勤続年数をいくつかの段階にくぎり段階ごとに支給率を定めるとか、一定勤続年数から支給率を増加あるいは逓減(ていげん)させるなどの方式が用いられることが多い。また、同一勤続年数であっても、退職事由（定年、会社都合、業務上傷病死、自己都合など）によって支給率が異なるのが通例である。

　近年、高齢化への対応として定年延長が進んでいるが、各企業は、それに伴う退職一時金負担の増大を回避しようとさまざまな抑制策をとってきている。賃上げ分の算定基礎額への繰り入れ抑制、一定勤続年数以上での支給率増加の停止・減少、早期に退職する労働者に退職一時金を割り増す早期退職優遇制度の導入などはその現れである。

　退職金の支給額は、勤続年数、学歴、退職事由などによって異なるが、勤続年数20年以上かつ45歳以上の男性定年退職者の退職金の平均額（1997）は、大学卒（管理・事務・技術職）2871万円、高校卒（管理・事務・技術職）1969万円、高校卒（現業職）1351万円、中学卒（現業職）1192万円である。ただし企業規模による格差は大きく、大学卒の場合、30～99人の企業では1222万円で、1000人以上の企業（3219万円）の38％にとどまる。

［横山寿一］

退職年金

退職金のいま一つの形態である退職年金は、既述した企業の退職金負担軽減への動きと労働組合の老後生活保障への要求の高まりと相まって、1970年代以降普及が進んでおり、退職年金のみが20.3％、退職一時金との併用が32.3％と、両者をあわせると5割を超える（1997）。退職年金には、企業が独自に設計する自社年金、税法上の優遇措置を受ける適格年金、厚生年金との調整による調整年金の3種類がある。このうち適格年金がもっとも普及しており、実施企業は74.9％（1997）に上っている。しかしバブル崩壊以降、低金利のもとで原資の運用が予測と大きくずれ、積立金不足に陥るケースが生じていること、終身雇用見直しの動きが強まるなかで企業間の移動があっても受益権が通算して付与される退職年金のポータビリティの確保が重要な課題となってきたことなどを背景に、企業側から将来の年金給付額をあらかじめ決めておく従来の「確定給付型」年金に代えて、拠出金だけを決めておきその積立金および運用収益によって将来の年金給付額を決める「確定拠出型」の退職年金制度の導入を求める声が高まってきている。

［横山寿一］

『労務行政研究所編・刊『退職金・年金事情』各年版』▽『労働省大臣官房政策調査部編『賃金労働時間制度等総合調査報告』各年版（労務行政研究所）』▽『日経連『今後の企業年金のあり方についての提言』（1998）』▽『労働省労働基準局編『新時代の賃金・退職金制度――賃金・退職金制度研究会報告書』（1998・労務行政研究所）』▽『浅野幸弘・金子能宏編著『企業年金ビッグバン』（1998・東洋経済新報社）』

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