Part 2/8:
The Social Security barrier refers to specific thresholds related to earnings and working hours. Once an employee's income surpasses a certain level—specifically, if they earn over 1.06 million yen—they are required to start contributing towards social security payments. This requirement has resulted in a phenomenon where individuals, particularly part-time workers, often adjust their work hours to fall below this threshold, subsequently causing significant distortions in the labor market.