The Japanese Employment System: Adapting to a New Economic Environment

Table of Contents......Page 12
List of Tables......Page 15
List of Figures......Page 17
Part I: Introduction......Page 20
The Japanese economy in the 1990s......Page 22
Continuity or discontinuity......Page 24
Demand-side explanations for the rise in atypical employment......Page 25
Choice of period of study......Page 26
Outline of book......Page 28
Use of statistics in this book......Page 30
Introduction—a brief look at the image and reality of Japanese employment......Page 32
Discussion of the Japanese employment system......Page 35
Conclusion—a system due for change?......Page 51
Part II: Institutional changes affecting the Labour Market......Page 54
Changes before the 1990s......Page 56
Employment security......Page 57
Career patterns for standard employees......Page 60
Compensation......Page 63
Hours of work......Page 72
Conclusions......Page 73
The definition of regular labour and trends in its share of employment......Page 76
Trends in the shares of non-standard employees......Page 78
Types of non-regular labour and their relative importance......Page 79
Understanding the shifting structure of labour contracts......Page 82
Will the trend to non-standard employment continue?......Page 91
Implications and discussion......Page 92
Japan\'s postwar industrial relations system......Page 94
The decline of unions since 1973......Page 98
Challenges of the 1990s......Page 101
Trends in labour\'s share......Page 103
Trends in worker disputes and court cases: greater individualism......Page 105
Conclusions......Page 106
Part III: Major Trends in Labour Markets......Page 108
The rise in unemployment......Page 110
Is Japan\'s unemployment rate underestimated?......Page 111
Explaining the recent rise in unemployment......Page 115
The employment insurance system......Page 119
Concentration on demographic sub-groups......Page 122
Trends in income inequality......Page 123
The changing Japanese family......Page 131
Changes in the labour market......Page 132
Women\'s position in the firm......Page 136
Institutional factors that limit women\'s careers......Page 139
Government policy to help mothers stay at work......Page 141
Conclusions......Page 143
Men and women over age 55......Page 144
The market for workers aged 40–55 (middle-aged)......Page 156
Conclusions......Page 157
Finding jobs for middle-school, high-school, and technical school graduates......Page 159
Recent trends......Page 165
Trends in the levels of educational attainment......Page 169
The \'friitaa\' phenomenon......Page 172
Conclusions......Page 174
The ageing society......Page 175
Problems raised by the ageing of the population......Page 176
Immigration......Page 178
Where do foreign workers work and how are they treated?......Page 181
The economic argument against large-scale immigration......Page 183
Alternatives to immigration......Page 184
Conclusion......Page 188
11. Conclusions and Prospects......Page 190
References......Page 194
C......Page 204
E......Page 205
G......Page 206
I......Page 207
J......Page 208
L......Page 209
N......Page 210
P......Page 211
S......Page 212
U......Page 213
W......Page 214
Z......Page 215