Non-regular Employees Research Articles

Study on the effect of providing learning opportunities on the formation of intention to continue work for non-regular professionals

In Japan, almost 40 per cent of employees are so-called 'non-regular employees'. That is to say, employees with a limited duration of employment. This is in opposition to their 'regular employee' counterparts who are full-time workers without a limited duration of employment. Non-regular employees include both part-time and full-time workers with a short- or intermediate-term of employment. The percentage of non-regular employees is on the rise in Japan and this is bringing with it decreased morale and productivity due to factors such as lack of job security. In addition, motivation is negatively affected by non-regular employees receiving fewer opportunities, such as training, for example, than regular employees. Naturally, a lack of training and education opportunities would have an adverse effect on motivation and morale. Professor Takao Maeda is based in the Faculty of Business, Marketing and Distribution, Nakamura Gakuen University in Japan, and is working alongside collaborators Professors Tomofumi Tohara and Shigeaki Mishima, who are both based in the Faculty of Business Administration, Osaka University of Economics in Japan. The team is focused on research that looks at how closing disparities between regular and non-regular employment could increase the motivation of non-regular employees.

Do comprehensive and diverse childcare services affect women’s labour supply and well-being?

ABSTRACT This paper estimates the effect of comprehensive and diverse regional childcare services on Japanese women’s labour participation and well-being. On the basis of a sequence of childcare policies introduced in the early 2000s in Japan, we apply the difference-in-differences method. Our empirical results show that these services had positive heterogeneous effects on women’s labour supply in terms of extensive and intensive margins, depending on their employment type. Furthermore, we find a mixed result that the availability of such childcare services deteriorated the subjective well-being of regular employees possibly due to the increased working hours, but improved that of nonregular employees possibly due to the increased participation in the labour market.

Study on the effect of providing learning opportunities on the formation of intention to continue work for non-regular professionals

In Japan, almost 40 per cent of employees are so-called 'non-regular employees'. That is to say, employees with a limited duration of employment. This is in opposition to their 'regular employee' counterparts who are full-time workers without a limited duration of employment. Non-regular employees include both part-time and full-time workers with a short- or intermediate-term of employment. The percentage of non-regular employees is on the rise in Japan and this is bringing with it decreased morale and productivity due to factors such as lack of job security. In addition, motivation is negatively affected by non-regular employees receiving fewer opportunities, such as training, for example, than regular employees. Naturally, a lack of training and education opportunities would have an adverse effect on motivation and morale. Professor Takao Maeda is based in the Faculty of Business, Marketing and Distribution, Nakamura Gakuen University in Japan, and is working alongside collaborators Professors Tomofumi Tohara and Shigeaki Mishima, who are both based in the Faculty of Business Administration, Osaka University of Economics in Japan. The team is focused on research that looks at how closing disparities between regular and non-regular employment could increase the motivation of non-regular employees.

Negative Correlation between Working from Home and Computerization, and Avoiding Damage from COVID-19

This study investigates the negative correlation between the feasibility of working from home and the probability of computerization in the future. Accordingly, this study finds that some tasks that could be technologically computerized remain dependent on their costs and other factors in the pre-COVID-19 era, especially in service sectors. However, the reluctance to adopt information technology at the workplace obstructs immediate responses to decreasing the consumption demand due to COVID-19. Delayed computerization became apparent in the difference in sales when the COVID-19 pandemic was prevalent because social distancing was suddenly required. The results indicate that firms in the eating and drinking business that invested more in software during the pre-COVID-19 era were less affected by the pandemic, using data from the United States, Canada, Europe, and Japan. Furthermore, computerization shifts skilled labor and results in a decrease in the number of non-regular employees, such as part-time and temporary workers.

The mediating effect of job autonomy and depression on the relationship between the leaders' roles and employees' job satisfaction according to employment type

Background and objective: Today, the roles of leaders and employees have become crucial for corporate performance, with leaders having a significant effect on employees. This study aimed to analyze leaders’ effect on employees’ job satisfaction. It also aimed to analyze the effect of employees’ depression and job autonomy on the relationship between leaders’ roles and employees’ job satisfaction by employment type. Materials and methods: In total, 24,327 cases from the 5th Korean Working Conditions Survey were analyzed; the established hypotheses were tested using partial least squares structural equation modeling. Results: In both regular and non-regular employees, the leader’s role had a positive effect on job satisfaction. Job autonomy and depression had a mediating effect. The effect of the leader’s role on job autonomy was greater in regular employees compared to non-regular employees; however, the effect of the leader’s role on depression was greater in non-regular employees. Conclusions: For non-regular employees, the expansion of job autonomy is limited due to the nature of their work. This implies that the greater focus of leaders should be on reducing depression resulting in increasing employees’ job satisfaction. For regular employees, the leaders’ focus should be on expanding job autonomy, which will be effective in increasing employees’ job satisfaction.

Deteriorating Employment and Marriage Decline in Japan

As is the case in Western countries, more Japanese are marrying later or remaining unmarried and are postponing childbearing or staying childless. Previous studies revealed that those individuals who were unable to secure regular employment due to the serious recession between the mid-1990s and mid-2000s, labelled a “lost generation,” had a very low marriage rate. But what about subsequent cohorts? Using a discrete-time logit model to analyse Japanese Life Course Panel Survey data, this study investigates the effects of employment on first marriages between 2007 and 2015, including cohorts after the lost generation. The results indicate that: (a) among men who are classed as non-regular employees, unemployed, or low-income regular employees, the likelihood of first marriage is low due to their weak economic position; and (b) women have a low likelihood of first marriage if they are non-regular employees or unemployed, not because of their employment status but because they have less chance of meeting a romantic partner and also because of their values regarding work and marriage. These explicit gender differences in the findings contradict observations made in contemporary Europe and North America, where a trend towards gender convergence in the effects of employment and earnings on marriage has been identified. The ambivalence towards gender equality in family and the workplace will be discussed to understand why many young Japanese remain single.

A corporate-centred conservative welfare regime: three-layered protection in Japan

ABSTRACT The Japanese welfare model is identified by the unified typology method of welfare and production regime (Schröder 2013) as the corporate-centred conservative welfare regime (CCWR), a subgroup of the conservative welfare regime. The major company cross-class alliance (Ito, 1988) has played a pivotal role in constructing the CCWR under the group-based coordinate market economy (Hall & Soskice, 2001, 2007). It encompasses the following key characteristics: a male breadwinner-based social insurance with status-dependent programs and a greater role of occupational welfare. Therefore, it fragments social protection into a three-layered structure where regular employees of major enterprises, especially men, enjoy the most generous benefits from their company and government, followed by permanent labourers of small- to medium-sized firms who are provided for relatively modestly, while only minimum governmental benefit is allocated to non-regular employees.

Cross-Sectional Association Between Employment Status and Self-Rated Health Among Middle-Aged Japanese Women: The Influence of Socioeconomic Conditions and Work-Life Conflict.

BackgroundFew studies examining the impact for women of employment status on health have considered domestic duties and responsibilities as well as household socioeconomic conditions. Moreover, to our knowledge, no studies have explored the influence of work-family conflict on the association between employment status and health. This research aimed to investigate the cross-sectional associations between employment status (regular employee, non-regular employee, or self-employed) with self-rated health among Japanese middle-aged working women.MethodsSelf-report data were obtained from 21,450 working women aged 40–59 years enrolled in the Japan Public Health Center-based Prospective Study for the Next Generation (JPHC-NEXT Study) in 2011–2016. Multivariate odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated for poor self-rated health (‘poor’ or ‘not very good’) by employment status. Sub-group analyses by household income and marital status, as well as mediation analysis for work-family conflict, were also conducted.ResultsAdjusted ORs for the poor self-rated health of non-regular employees and self-employed workers were 0.90 (95% CI, 0.83–0.98) and 0.84 (95% CI, 0.75–0.94), respectively, compared with regular employees. The identified association of non-regular employment was explained by work-family conflict. Subgroup analysis indicated no statistically significant modifying effects by household income and marital status.ConclusionAmong middle-aged working Japanese women, employment status was associated with self-rated health; non-regular employees and self-employed workers were less likely to report poor self-rated health, compared with regular employees. Lowered OR of poor self-rated health among non-regular employees may be explained by their reduced work-family conflict.

기업의 하방경직적 고용 의사결정에 관한 연구：정규직과 비정규직의 근무인원을 중심으로

기업의 하방경직적 고용 의사결정에 관한 연구：정규직과 비정규직의 근무인원을 중심으로

非正社員の働き方・暮らし方と政策課題 ―パートタイマーを中心に―

非正社員の働き方・暮らし方と政策課題 ―パートタイマーを中心に―

What prolongs the duration of NEET status for youth? Evidence from Japanese panel data

This paper examines the determinants of transition to the labor force status for non-labor force youth, known as NEET (not in employment, education, or training). We use panel data of Japanese youth who experience the NEET status to estimate the competing risk model from transition out of the status. The results show that although many NEETs exit the status within a year, there exists a negative duration dependence of joblessness. We also find that higher educational qualifications and job experience improve the transition from NEET, the impact of which varies with gender with respect to educational background. For men, graduation from university or a graduate school promotes the transition from NEET, but for women, graduation from a professional school and junior college also promotes the transition. Considering the difference between regular and non-regular employment, women tend to engage in work as non-regular employees, while men tend to be unwilling to work in non-regular employment. The hurdle for employment might be relatively higher among men, because their reservation values for work may be higher relative to women.

Mechanism for Work Motivation of Non-Regular Employees to Achieve Business Results in Service Chains:

Mechanism for Work Motivation of Non-Regular Employees to Achieve Business Results in Service Chains:

호텔기업 비정규직 종업원의 조직 내 사회적 관계 및 보상적 특성이 조직시민행동에 미치는 영향: 성별의 상호작용효과를 중심으로

호텔기업 비정규직 종업원의 조직 내 사회적 관계 및 보상적 특성이 조직시민행동에 미치는 영향: 성별의 상호작용효과를 중심으로

A Field Survey of Working Conditions of Parents with Children Requiring Medical Care

The number of children in Japan with disabilities who require medical care is increasing and is estimated to have reached about 17,000 in 2015. Their home care is a great burden on mothers, therefore it is presumed to be hard for the mothers to find outside employment. The aims of this survey are to clarify the working conditions of mothers of children with disabilities that require medical care, and to investigate effective social support for improving their working and economic status. We carried out an original questionnaire survey on parents of children with disabilities who were visiting the University Hospital of Occupational and Environmental Health, Japan or daycare facilities in Kitakyushu City. Seventy-five parents, including 73 mothers, responded. The median age of the enrolled children with disabilities was 9 years old. Thirty-two of the mothers who responded (42.7%, median age 40) were employed, but two-thirds of them were non-regular employees. Twenty-two of the mothers had experienced a loss of work because of their children's disabilities. There were no significant relationships among the working conditions, children's age, size of family and household income. Almost 89% of the mothers desired to get employment for their sense of worth and economic status, but almost 11% did not. This survey clarified that the employment rate of mothers of disabled children with special care needs was low, and that most of those who were employed had non-regular employment. It is important to support the mothers in finding employment for their mental and economic status, and special attention must be paid to the diversity of their needs.

Effect of Employees’ Values on Employee Satisfaction in Japanese Retail and Service Industries

The Japanese workforce has decreased rapidly over the past few decades, and this is expected to continue. Retail and service industries are already experiencing human-resource shortages. In these industries, nonregular employees feature prominently. For most companies, recruitment is difficult, and employees change jobs often, making securing staff an important business issue. Nonregular and regular employees are treated differently; the problem is thus partly social in nature. However, some nonregular employees are content, although their work conditions are not good. Here, text mining was used to explore differences between the values of regular and nonregular employees in the retail and service industries.

Maternity harassment in Japan: Why do regular employees have higher risk than non-regular employees do?

This is the first study that uses microdata to analyze the characteristics of women and workplaces that are associated with the risk of maternity harassment (MH). Existing surveys find that regular employees are more likely to be victimized by MH than are non-regular employees. Using Fairlie’s decomposition method, this study decomposes the regular/non-regular gap in the rate of victimization into such factors as education, tenure, voluntary resignation, pressure to work overtime, clear job description, and male-dominated workplace. I find that voluntary resignation and pressure to work overtime are the two largest factors that explain the regular/non-regular gap in the risk of MH. I also find that organizations that provide clear job descriptions have low risk of MH. The results suggest that organizations could reduce the risk of MH by clarifying individual employees’ roles and by highly evaluating employees who execute their duties without overtime.

Effects of state-sponsored human capital investment on the selection of training type

Since the 1990s, firms in Japan have reduced their human capital investment in the workplace to minimize costs. Moreover, in response to the increase in the number of non-regular employees and turnover rates, workers need to have greater incentive to make the self-motivated investment in themselves for their self-protection. In this study, we first estimate the effects of workers’ self-motivated investment in themselves on wage rates. Next, we explore who is likely to participate in which training type and accordingly estimate the effects of the self-motivated investment on wage rates by training type. Our estimates controlling for individual-level fixed-effects indicate that the return is significantly positive and particularly high for practical training related to workers’ current jobs, and regular workers tend to self-select these higher-returns programs, while non-regular workers are more likely to enroll in lower-returns programs, such as schooling. This trend in investment in oneself could potentially increase the wage inequality between regular and non-regular workers through the self-selection of training types. Our estimates reveal that receiving the training and education benefit raises the likelihood for workers to participate in a high-return training program regardless of whether they are non-regular or regular workers. This suggests that government benefits on self-investment change workers’ self-selection of training type and serve to promote practical trainings that lead to high returns.

호텔산업 비정규직 종업원의 관계, 직무 및 보상특성이 조직냉소에 미치는 영향 : 성별에 따른 영향력 비교분석

호텔산업 비정규직 종업원의 관계, 직무 및 보상특성이 조직냉소에 미치는 영향 : 성별에 따른 영향력 비교분석

Survey of Motivation to Work Among Non-Regular Employees in the Food Services Companies

Over the last few decades, the workforce in Japan has been rapidly decreasing. At the same time, the number of non-regular employees has been increasing. Under these circumstances, employee satisfaction and commitment to their organizations are important issues. The authors focused on non-regular employees in the Japanese food services industry. In this industry, the proportion of non-regular employees is high, raising their motivation and stabilizing the workforce is a big management task. The authors studied satisfaction and commitment among employees of three major companies using a questionnaire. Factors associated with employee satisfaction were shown to vary significantly by length of employment. Additionally, three patterns of factors associated with employee satisfaction were identified.

非正規雇用問題と企業別組合の役割およびその展望( 福祉社会の変貌と労働組合-社会政策学会第118回大会共通論題)

非正規雇用問題と企業別組合の役割およびその展望( 福祉社会の変貌と労働組合-社会政策学会第118回大会共通論題)