Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of figures
- List of tables
- Preface
- Introduction
- Part I Features of Japan's internal labor markets
- Part II Recent changes in wage and employment structures
- 7 Institutional changes in Japanese internal labor markets
- 8 Changes in the employment and wage structure of Japanese firms, 1976–1996
- 9 Changes in Japanese earnings profiles
- 10 The impact of growth and business cycles on Japanese corporate hierarchies
- Epilog
- References
- Index
8 - Changes in the employment and wage structure of Japanese firms, 1976–1996
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 22 September 2009
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of figures
- List of tables
- Preface
- Introduction
- Part I Features of Japan's internal labor markets
- Part II Recent changes in wage and employment structures
- 7 Institutional changes in Japanese internal labor markets
- 8 Changes in the employment and wage structure of Japanese firms, 1976–1996
- 9 Changes in Japanese earnings profiles
- 10 The impact of growth and business cycles on Japanese corporate hierarchies
- Epilog
- References
- Index
Summary
Overview
In this chapter we describe the changes in the wage and employment structures of large and medium-sized Japanese firms during the 20 years from the mid-1970s to the mid-1990s, using the data contained in volume 3 of the Survey on the Wage Structure (Chingin Kouzou Kihon Chosa), published annually by the Japanese Ministry of Labor, including information on wages, age, tenure, and employment classified by age group, rank, industry, and firm size. Our purpose is to summarize these data into stylized facts, and use these facts to guide the analysis in the final part of the book.
Data and definitions
As already mentioned in chapter 4, the data published in the Basic Survey are classified in such a way that the information on educational attainment is available only for the aggregate of all industries. This information is not available in the industrial data. Since we are interested in how wages and employment vary not only over time but also across industries, we use industrial data and select the following three sectors: manufacturing, finance and retail, and wholesale distribution.
While manufacturing has attracted considerable international attention because of its innovative practices and competitiveness, the distribution sector has often been blamed for being protected and hostile to foreign competition and the finance sector was particularly affected by the burst of the bubble in the early 1990s.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Internal Labour Markets in Japan , pp. 207 - 225Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2000