Abstract
It is now a commonplace to cite lifetime employment, seniority-related wages, and enterprise unions as three essential features of the Japanese labor market. This understanding can be traced to James G. Abegglen's book The Japanese Factory-Aspects of Its Social Organization, published in 1958 and widely accepted by the 1960s. At the time, these characteristics were considered to reflect the backwardness or archaism of Japan; today, they are regarded as the strength of the Japanese economy. Needless to say, this reevaluation was supported by the superior international competitiveness of Japanese businesses in such areas as automobiles and steel and by the resiliency of the Japanese economy as shown by its swift recovery from the oil shocks. However, despite the glamor that surrounded the debate on Japanese-style employment practices, there has never been an effort to test the above-stated interpretation by careful empirical analysis. Thus has a stereotype become what may be a myth.
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