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There is growing awareness in Japan of the need to make structural changes to the labour market. This trend, along with the changing nature of the Japanese labour force in relation to the country's aging population, means that unemployment will probably not become as severe as in some European countries. Growth of the labour supply has slowed down in the 1990s as a result of the aging of the population, and the supply is forecast to fall from 2005. The aging of the population has also led to an increased proportion of older people in the labour force itself. It is becoming clear that Japan will now have to make more efficient use of the labour market mechanism.

Corporate restructuring has had a significant impact on the labour market in Japan, where until recently there were jobs available for almost anybody willing to work. Some of Japan's leading companies have implemented work force reduction programmes, with older white-collar employees being particularly negatively affected. There has been a rise in the number of workplace harassment incidents, 60% of which are a direct result of restructuring. It is now clear that workers need to be offered better legal protection and that workers' interests should be promoted through a new labour organization structure.

The performance of Japan's labour market during the past twenty years has been exceptional, with an unemployment rate much lower than the OECD average . Although inching up since the [...]

Two social scientists discuss the state of the Japanese economy in 1995 and the project the future for 1996. They perceive constructive development in Japan in areas such as corporate restructuring and feel the convoy system will soon give way to a new financial era in Japan. The contours of the job market will change with the demand for services. The information revolution will lead to structural changes as women outnumber men in large organizations. So long as bureaucratic controls are held in check, the outlook for 1996 is guardedly optimistic.

A statistical analysis of the effects of labor market changes between 1970 and 1989 on the employment security of Japanese women revealed that women served as a buffer for male manufacturing workers. However, their lesser share of employment security was still greater than that of US men or US women. The relative volatility of female employment in Japan did not increase during the time period. The causes of differing separation rates for male and female workers changed between the 1970s and the 1980s.

I. Motivation The Japanese labor market has attracted the attention of many observers, both in Japan and the West. One of the most interesting institutions of this labor market is [...]

The Japanese labor market has experienced both structural and demographic changes, including an increase in the proportion of paid employees in the work force and the aging of the labor force. Job tenure increased from an average of nine years to 13 years between 1971 and 1988. Gains from work experience have led to steeper earnings profiles in Japan than in the US. Earnings profiles have been flattened as a result of such factors as higher mandatory retirement ages.

A 1985 study indicated that Japan and the US had different levels of employment tenure and different earnings profiles. These findings were different than those from a 1992 study by Robert L. Clark and Naohiro Ogawa that used data from 1981 and 1986. Clark and Ogawa found that firm-specific tenure became less important during the 1980s, but this result would have been more credible if data from 1985 and 1988 were included.

This paper examines the economic segmentation model in explaining 1985-86 Japanese interregional migration. The analysis takes advantage of statistical graphic techniques to illustrate the following substantive issues of interregional migration: (1) to examine whether economic segmentation significantly influences Japanese regional migration and (2) to explain socioeconomic characteristics of prefectures for both in- and out-migration. Analytic techniques include a latent structural equation (LISREL) methodology and statistical residual mapping. The residual dispersion patterns, for instance, suggest the extent to which socioeconomic and geopolitical variables explain migration differences by showing unique clusters of unexplained residuals. The analysis further points out that extraneous factors such as high residential land values, significant commuting populations, and regional-specific cultures and traditions need to be incorporated in the economic segmentation model in order to assess the extent of the models' reliability in explaining the pattern of interprefectural migration.

This paper develops the concept of institutional social capital and discusses its importance in the labor market. Institutional social capital is constituted by the resources inherent in an organization (such as a school) and thereby available to members of that organization. This is contrasted with the social capital available to individuals through their own personal networks. In the labor market context, an example of institutional social capital is the ties that schools have with employers who recruit a proportion of their new employees as they prepare to graduate. The paper examines how these ties and the norms governing the important labor market screening role played by the high school developed in post-WWII Japan. I also discuss an important positive externality -- social control over students -- generated by schools' institutional social capital. Finally, I examine current challenges to Japanese high schools' institutional social capital.

The Japanese labor market and employment practices are examined in detail, including the impact of government policy.