Japanese Employment System Research Articles

What institutional characteristics determine and mitigate gender inequality in the workplace? An empirical analysis of Japanese firms

The purpose of this study is to clarify why gender inequality in the workplace has remained intractable and how it will be mitigated in Japanese firms. To this end, we analyze gender inequality in the workplace and its mitigation in terms of institutional characteristics (i.e., the Japanese employment system and its institutional complementarity with corporate governance, as well as the Sustainable Development Goals), using data on Japanese firms listed on the first section of the Tokyo Stock Exchange in 2019. Our findings reveal that these institutional factors influence gender (in)equality in the workplace by balancing the interdependent social and economic values of firms to maximize their overall value.

COVID‐19 Pandemic and Non‐standard Employees in Japan

This article aims to grasp the influence of the pandemic on standard and non‐standard employees in Japan and clarify its disparity between them. In 2020, there was an imbalance between the slight increase in standard employees and the massive loss of non‐standard employees in the labour market. Non‐standard employees' working hours were greatly reduced, often without allowances for absence, and hence their monthly income considerably diminished. As a result, their well‐being also declined. Thus, the pandemic has affected employment, and its impact has been felt most strongly by non‐standard employees. This does not mean that there is no discriminatory treatment of non‐standard employees in firms. However, a closer look at the real picture reveals a variety of factors. In addition to the discriminatory treatment that is related to the Japanese employment system, a combination of managerial factors such as the shortage of standard employees, practical factors such as differences in wage systems, and the lack of sufficient information about the expansion of the coverage of the Employment Adjustment Subsidy, have placed non‐standard employees at a huge disadvantage.

Apathy Level, Disinhibition, and Psychiatric Conditions Are Related to the Employment Status of People With Traumatic Brain Injury.

An understanding of the potential prognostic factors as they relate to the employment status of people with traumatic brain injury (TBI) is necessary so that occupational therapy practitioners can provide the most effective treatment. To examine the impact of apathy, disinhibition, and psychiatric conditions on employment status after TBI. An observational study conducted from March 2015 to March 2020. Cognitive dysfunction clinics associated with two general hospitals in Japan. Japanese people of working age (N = 110, ages 18-65 yr) with TBI. Outcomes and Measures: As an outcome indicator, each participant's employment status was rated on a 3-point scale (i.e., 3 = regular employment, 2 = welfare employment [employed as a person with disabilities or undergoing vocational training in the Japanese welfare employment system, for which a worker is paid under either system], 1 = unemployment). Psychiatric, neuropsychological, and physical assessments were measured as explanatory variables. The impact of various factors on employment status was investigated using linear discriminant regression analysis. The level of apathy, disinhibition, and incidence of psychiatric conditions after TBI, as well as age and years postinjury, were related to employment status. Conclusion and Relevance: Although this is a cross-sectional study, interventions for apathy and disinhibition, as well as management of psychiatric conditions, are recommended to help improve employment status among people with TBI. What This Article Adds: The employment status of people with TBI is related more to apathy, disinhibition, and psychiatric conditions than to intelligence, memory function, or executive function.

Japanese labor studies: Women and non-standard workers

This article provides an overview of Japanese labor studies conducted since the 2000s; it particularly focuses on studies dealing with women’s work and non-standard employment. By reviewing these studies, the article aims to show how the Japanese employment system creates and maintains economic disparities between men and women and between different employment statuses. First, a review of the literature on women’s labor indicates that the Japanese employment system is discriminatory toward women. Specifically, the article finds that Japan’s long-term employment and seniority-based systems are preventing women from developing their careers. Next, the article reviews research on non-standard employment with a focus on disparities between standard and non-standard workers and explains how differences in human resource development policies have created and maintained large discrepancies between employment statuses. Therefore, the study concludes that the established Japanese employment system causes large disparities between men and women, and in employment statuses.

Features of personnel management principles in developed countries and possibilities of using them in Kazakhstan

The article is devoted to one of the current problems of personnel management. Measures taken by the state to increase human capital to increase the economic growth rate of Kazakhstan were considered. The features of personnel management in such developed countries as China, Japan and the USA are studied. The research revealed the characteristics of personnel management in these countries. During the study of the Japanese model of personnel management, it was revealed that the Japanese model is oriented towards the long term. The Japanese prefer slow progress through advanced training to a long-term goal.Afeature of the Japanese model is lifelong hiring. Unlike Japan, the American promotion culture is aimed at short-term guidelines. The US prefers to hire people with innovative ideas and an aggressive spirit. In addition, it was revealed that the employment system in Chinese state-owned companies is close to the Japanese permanent employment system. The employment system in China's private companies is identical to the free employment system in the United States. Chinese companies are focused on professional skills and work experience. An analysis of the development and personnel policy of Walmart, which has various forms of internal recruitment depending on the country, is given. We studied the experience of this company in the conditions of the coronavirus pandemic. As a result of research, the need to take into account the peculiarities of the national mentality was identified. The application of the above HR management practices for our companies is justified.

Significance of human capital development in the Japanese employment system and challenges of college education

Significance of human capital development in the Japanese employment system and challenges of college education

Age of eligibility to run for election in Japan: a barrier to political careers?

ABSTRACTRecently, students’ political movements are emerging in the world. In countries other than Japan, students often play important roles as political actors. On the other hand, in Japan student movements are failed, and it is often argued that the reason lies in young people’s low political awareness. However, this article argues that the political awareness of young people in Japan is not low, and that the problem lies in the difficulty of access to politics for the young. This article investigates student movements around the world focusing on age of eligibility to run for election. In countries and regions where university students reach the age of eligibility to run for election during their school years, student movements to develop into political parties, and core members can become politicians while they are still university students. On the other hand, in Japan, the late age of eligibility to run for election means that students cannot enter politics during their time in university. In addition, given the Japanese traditional employment system, there is a significant risk involved in stopping regular employment to become a politician, which is not permanent employment, as it is dependent on election results. Thus, Japanese university students who are interested in politics are less likely to sustain that interest and become politicians after graduating from university.

Inequality through wage response to the business cycle–Evidence from the FFL decomposition method

This study explores the change in wage response to the business cycle and resultant wage inequality. First, we find that the pro-cyclical relationship between wage and business cycle has weakened among low-income earners after the late 1990s, despite the fact that wages of low earners had been vulnerable to the business cycle fluctuations before this period, using the Firpo, Fortin, and Lemieux decomposition method. Second, our empirical analyses using the DiNardo, Fortin, and Lemieux decomposition method confirm that the change contributed to mitigating wage inequality among employed people in the subsequent recessions such as the 2008 global financial crisis. This could be explained by the structural changes in Japanese employment system triggered by the financial crisis in 1997, which turned firms’ attitude towards downsizing more aggressive than before. This change affected mainly low-income earners who tend to belong to the secondary segment, while the wages and job security of the high-wage workers who mainly belong to the primary segment have stayed stable even after the structural changes. As a result, employment adjustment has dominated wage adjustment for the low-income earners after the change in the employment practice, which led to the results found in this study.

The Reflection and Prospects on the Sociology of Japanese Employment System

The Reflection and Prospects on the Sociology of Japanese Employment System

『日本的雇用制度はどこへ向かうのか ―金融・自動車業界の資本国籍を越えた人材獲得競争―』

『日本的雇用制度はどこへ向かうのか ―金融・自動車業界の資本国籍を越えた人材獲得競争―』

How Did the Japanese Employment System Change Investigating the Heterogeneity of Downsizing Practices Across Firms

Beyond the general issue of institutional change at the aggregate level, some studies have shown that the diversity of Japanese firms has increased since the late 1990s, both in terms of performance and organization. This paper contributes to this literature by investigating the evolving employment practices at the firm level. In mobilizing a database of listed manufacturing firms, we focus on the evolution of the speed of downsizing between the 1990s and the 2000s. A specificity of our paper is that we do not limit our analysis to the introduction of individual effects but we rather resort to a Bayesian estimation procedure, which yields to (firm-specific) individual forecasts of the parameters of the adjustment process modelled with random coefficients. The first major result we get is a decreasing average speed of downsizing, contrary to what is found in a simple estimation with individual effects. Second, we confirm the increasing heterogeneity of Japanese firms between the 1990s and the 2000s, through a rising dispersion of the speed of downsizing. Third, we are able, from a descriptive viewpoint to identify some characteristics of firms with different speed of downsizing.

Globalization and Greater Flexibility in the Japanese Labor Market: Exploring the Macro–Micro Link

ABSTRACTThe author explores the missing links between globalization and greater flexibility in the Japanese labor market based on review of literature and available evidence. Understanding Japan’s responses to globalization requires a nuanced approach, which accounts for its historical trajectory and social-institutional context. Along with globalization, Japan is experiencing a greater infusion of foreign capital, and an increasing presence of foreign firms. These foreign firms bring human resource practices that are more market driven and less socially embedded compared to the status quo. The diverging human resources practices of foreign firms have spillover effects that may destabilize the Japanese employment system in the long run.

Challenges of the Japanese Employment System

Challenges of the Japanese Employment System

Recent Trend in the Japanese Employment System

Recent Trend in the Japanese Employment System

On the Japanese Employment System and Labour Legislation

On the Japanese Employment System and Labour Legislation

Why is the Japanese Employment System Resilient?:

Why is the Japanese Employment System Resilient?:

A Comparative Research on Japanese Employment System Based on the Theories of David Marsden, James C. Abegglen and Ronald P. Dore

 Abstract—The theme of Japanese administration has been a hot topic debated during decades and scholars have done their researches in a various fields over this subject. There are three outstanding achievements in searching for the truth of Japanese employment system made by David Marsden, James Abegglen, and Ronald Dore on behalf of each period. Though numerous discussions have been done on each of their typical logics, there is still no study to string the three together. Of course theories of the three consider different periods, stand for different fields or even view from different perspectives, but they also show factors in common, and the meaning of comparative study lies in their key concepts on Japanese employment system. As the title shows, this paper attempts to make a review based on the theories of the three in order to search for an integrated understanding of Japanese employment system through Marsden's framework, Dore's detailed data analysis, and Abegglen's cultural discussion. At the same time, the advantages and disadvantages of this system can be re-recognized and new ideas over Japanese administration will be sighted.

Does the Japanese employment system harm productivity performance?

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of employment systems on productivity performance in Japanese companies from the perspective of data envelopment analysis (DEA) and sustainable human resource management (HRM). Design/methodology/approach – In all, three employment models including employment indicators in addition to financial indicators are examined between 2006 and 2012 with 2,738 listed Japanese companies. This study verifies robustness of the results by testing multiple DEA measurements and conducting industrial analysis. Findings – The results indicate employment systems influence productivity performance in Japanese companies and the characteristics of Japanese employment systems harm productivity performance. In particular, higher liquidity of human resource is essential contrary to the philosophy of long-term employment. Furthermore, new initiatives such as promotion opportunities for women have not been successful up to now. Research limitations/implications – This study investigates limited aspects of HRM practices and employment systems in Japanese companies due to data availability. This study is designed to investigate mainly organizational outcome considering sustainability. More research is needed to identify comprehensive influence from Japanese employment system not only on corporate performance but also reduction of harm on a variety of stakeholders such as employee, community and government. Practical implications – These findings suggest that it is necessary for executives in Japanese companies to pay attention to their HRM practices under Japanese employment system, in particular, entry and exit of human resource and support systems for female employees. Originality/value – There are few studies that investigate the relationship between employment system and productivity performance in Japanese companies. This research provides empirical evidence for potential influence of the Japanese employment system.

Changes in the Japanese Employment System in the Two Lost Decades

The authors re-examine developments in two key elements of the Japanese employment system, seniority-based wages and lifetime employment, using recent microdata from the Basic Survey on Wage Structure. In contrast with previous studies, the authors find evidence that these practices are eroding. For seniority wages, for example, they find that the age-wage profile has become flatter in recent years, especially for employees in the middle and final phase of their careers. And for lifetime employment, a clear downward trend has developed since the early 2000s in the share of lifetime employees among younger, university-educated workers. The findings suggest that a growing share of educated younger workers choose to leave indefinite-contract jobs due to the poor prospects for seniority-based wage progression, while older workers choose to stay in their present job despite stagnating wages, because it may be more difficult for them to find alternative employment.

A new form of union organizing in Japan? Community unions and the case of the McDonald’s ‘McUnion’

The article examines how and why a new independent trade union was established in McDonald’s Japan in 2006. We discuss these developments both within the McDonald’s ‘system’ and the broader context of the growth of community unions in the Japanese employment system. The findings suggest that the ‘McUnion’ could be seen as a new form of trade union organizing in Japan; unlike an enterprise union it is independent of the employer and recruits ‘non-regular’ workers, yet unlike most community unions is established in one large employer, on a national rather than regional basis, has largely retained its membership and was established and operates with the direct involvement of the main Japanese Trade Union Confederation, Rengo.