Transition from School to Work in Japan

Using retrospective data of young people's work experience in Japan, this paper found that initial labor market conditions, i.e., when workers first enter the labor market after permanently leaving school, have a significant lasting impact on the employment experiences of workers in their teens and twenties. An increase in the unemployment rate at the time of labor market entry reduces the probability of gaining full-time regular employment and, more important, increases the future probability of workers of leaving employers by lowering the quality of job matches. It was also found that the vocational guidance or recommendations workers received at school could be effective in raising the quality of job matches. The adverse effect of initial unemployment rates on employment opportunities was most profoundly observed among female college graduates. J. Japan. Int. Econ., December 2001, 15(4), pp. 465–488. Faculty of Economics, Gakushuin University, 1-5-1 Mejiro Toshima-ku, Tokyo 171-8588, Japan; and Faculty of Economics, Meiji Gakuin University, 1-2-37 Shirokane-dai Minato-ku, Tokyo 108-8636, Japan. © 2001 Elsevier Science (USA).Journal of Economic Literature Classification Numbers: J24, J63, J64.     

Japanese labour in the 1990s: stability and stagnation

We review the state of the labour market and employment practicesin Japan over the past 15 years and try to evaluate the natureof the changes that have been occurring. We also look at howgovernment policy has reacted to the conditions in the labourmarket and what implications this has for the future. Althoughthere has been a continual shift of resources away from manufacturingand agriculture into services, employment practices have notbeen changing so rapidly, and job protection is actually stronger.This, along with wage restraint, accounts for why unemploymenthas only increased by some 2.5 percentage points during almosta decade of stagnation. We also note that much government policyhas acted to maintain existing employment practices and thatlabour economists are divided as to whether or not this is agood thing.