Recently I’ve gotten the opportunity to work at an English teaching school and was very excited about the prospect of starting. However, due to the contract stipulating I will be working 29.5 hours per week, I will have to use the citizens insurance (市民保険/国民保険, I’m not sure which it is, it was stated in English). So I will have to pay extra for my health insurance and pension. Is this normal? I at my current job I have 社会保険 so pay less but my wife got a little suspicious so I wanted to check here. The people at the job said after 1-2 years I can move up to 30+ hours but that will be negotiated in future.
I guess my questions are, do I have anything to worry about? Is this normal? Do any of you have to do this and how do you get by?
by Shinosei