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Elderly workers in Japan: The need for a new deal

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  • Debroux, Philippe

Abstract

This discussion draws on current literature and data from five case studies in order to highlight main explicative factors of the peculiarities in terms of how elderly workers continue to be employed in Japan. It assesses the direction followed by public authorities and private organisations to keep elderly people at work in acceptable social and economic conditions. Evidence suggests that Japan has been successful in social and economic terms in the management of older workers. Historically, policy-makers in Japan tend to encourage the unemployed or inactive back into jobs or urge those in employment to delay retiring in order to avoid a long disconnection from the labour market. As a result, older employees tend to stay in the labour market in larger numbers and for longer time than in most European countries. However, this discussion demonstrates how such policy outcomes come with complications, even paradoxes. For example, it could be argued that mandatory retirement age at 60 combined with de facto acceptance of age discrimination, and large differential of treatment between regular and non-regular employment have largely contributed to explain the higher labour force participation rates for older workers. Overall, this discussion concludes that traditional policies and practices of Japanese human resource management in relation to employing older workers are now unsustainable under the impact of demographics, the socio-cultural context, the regulatory environment and the subsequent need for changes in the social security system. Overall, the argument is developed that, in relation to the employment of elderly workers in Japan, there is a need for a new deal.

Suggested Citation

  • Debroux, Philippe, 2016. "Elderly workers in Japan: The need for a new deal," management revue. Socio-economic Studies, Rainer Hampp Verlag, vol. 27(1-2), pages 82-96.
  • Handle: RePEc:rai:mamere:mrev-2016-debroux
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    Cited by:

    1. Berti, Nicola & Finco, Serena & Battaïa, Olga & Delorme, Xavier, 2021. "Ageing workforce effects in Dual-Resource Constrained job-shop scheduling," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 237(C).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    retirement; retirement policies; pension eligibility; social security system; Japan; new deal;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J14 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of the Elderly; Economics of the Handicapped; Non-Labor Market Discrimination
    • J21 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Labor Force and Employment, Size, and Structure
    • M12 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Business Administration - - - Personnel Management; Executives; Executive Compensation
    • M52 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Personnel Economics - - - Compensation and Compensation Methods and Their Effects
    • M54 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Personnel Economics - - - Labor Management

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