Labor Demand and Supply, and Institutional Policy Behind Nonstandard Employment in Japan

Abstract

Nonstandard employment is growing in Japan and according to many governmental surveys from the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communication: Statistics Bureau, Director General for Policy Planning and Statistical Research and Training Institute, nonstandard employment has reached 36.2 per cent as of 2013. Therefore, this Senior Research Project seeks to identify possible explanations for the growth of nonstandard employment from the demand-side (labor costs reduction and labor flexibility) and supply-side (flexibility in working hours) relationship, and from an institutional point of view (major recent changes in laws). Divided into four chapters, Chapter I provides a background on nonstandard employment and the purpose and contributions of this study to the Japanese firms, workers and the government. Chapter II provides a review on the core literature concerning characteristics of nonstandard employment and wage disparities while Chapter Ill combines those details into the analyses of the growth in nonstandard employment, and Chapter IV concludes the study with major summaries and new insights about how all those forces are intertwined together to generate the perfect conditions for the growth of nonstandard employment.