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Declining long-term employment in Japan

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  • Kawaguchi, Daiji
  • Ueno, Yuko

Abstract

This paper documents the secular decline of average job tenure in Japan based on microdata from two representative government surveys: the household-based Employment Status Survey (ESS) and the establishment-based Basic Survey on Wage Structure (BSWS). Male workers born in 1970 have experienced about 20% fewer years of job tenure than those born in 1944 at a given age, based on an analysis of ESS data. The decline of the long-term employment relationship is uniformly observed across firm sizes and industries. Among job changers, the fraction of voluntary job changes, as well as that of job changes associated with wage increase, has been stable.

Suggested Citation

  • Kawaguchi, Daiji & Ueno, Yuko, 2013. "Declining long-term employment in Japan," Journal of the Japanese and International Economies, Elsevier, vol. 28(C), pages 19-36.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jjieco:v:28:y:2013:i:c:p:19-36
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jjie.2013.01.005
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    5. MURATA Keiko & HORI Masahiro, 2019. "Causal Mechanisms of the Decline in Long-term Employment in Japan: Evidence from Long-run Panel Data (Japanese)," Discussion Papers (Japanese) 19028, Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry (RIETI).
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    9. Kenji Umetani & Tadashi Yokoyama, 2015. "Concentration of Population in Tokyo: A Survey," GRIPS Discussion Papers 15-21, National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies.
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    11. Daiji Kawaguchi & Yuko Mori, 2014. "Winning the race against technology," Bank of Japan Working Paper Series 14-E-5, Bank of Japan.
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    13. Hideaki Aoyama & Corrado Guilmi & Yoshi Fujiwara & Hiroshi Yoshikawa, 2022. "Dual labor market and the “Phillips curve puzzle”: the Japanese experience," Journal of Evolutionary Economics, Springer, vol. 32(5), pages 1419-1435, November.
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    16. Kawaguchi, Daiji & Mori, Yuko, 2016. "Why has wage inequality evolved so differently between Japan and the US? The role of the supply of college-educated workers," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 52(C), pages 29-50.
    17. Ohta, Souichi, 2019. "Some evidence on the cohort earnings differentials of men in Japan," Japan and the World Economy, Elsevier, vol. 49(C), pages 113-125.
    18. Franklin Soriano & Ruel Abello, 2015. "Modelling the relationships between the use of STEM* skills, collaboration, R&D and Innovation among Australian Businesses," Australian Journal of Labour Economics (AJLE), Bankwest Curtin Economics Centre (BCEC), Curtin Business School, vol. 18(3), pages 345-374.
    19. YOKOYAMA, Izumi & 横山, 泉 & OBARA, Takuya & 小原, 拓也, 2015. "Optimal Combination of Wage Cuts and Layoffs: The Unexpected Side Effect of a Performance-based Payment System," Discussion Papers 2015-07, Graduate School of Economics, Hitotsubashi University.
    20. Mika Akesaka & Koyo Miyoshi, 2018. "Wage Inequality during the Long-term Stagnation in Japan: Changes within and between Establishments," ISER Discussion Paper 1045, Institute of Social and Economic Research, Osaka University.
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Economic stagnation; Human capital; Implicit contract; Long-term employment;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J21 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Labor Force and Employment, Size, and Structure
    • J62 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Job, Occupational and Intergenerational Mobility; Promotion

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