Staff Diversity in Japanese Firms: Identification of Determining Factors

Like most advanced countries, Japan has faced dramatic changes in employment structure during the last three decades, both at macro and micro levels. Non-regular employment has increased to very high levels, compared to other OECD countries, and senior employment has been developed a lot. However, the rapidly aging process of the population will lead to even more dramatic changes in a near future, as the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare expects a drop in the labour force of 9.5 million people between 2010 and 2030. One way to face such a situation may be to make better use of groups of the Japanese population that are not widely integrated in the workforce, or not at the core of it. In addition to an increase in the employment of foreign workers, one may think about women, who still do not enjoy the same carrier opportunities as men, in spite of a legal framework promoting equality in employment, or handicapped persons who still often face difficulties, as in most countries, to work as much as they would like. In other words, one way to face the expected drop in the work force may be to increase staff diversity. In order to shed light on this issue, this contribution tries to assess the present situation and to identify the determining factors of staff diversity in Japanese firms. On the basis of data compiled by Toyo Keizai in its yearbook on CSR, we will assess the level and evolution during the last years of female employment at various levels of responsibility, of handicapped persons and of foreign workers in Japanese large firms. Through regression analysis, we will also try to identify the determining factors of employment of such groups of people. This research, we hope, will help better assess the potentialities and the difficulties of an increased involvement of such groups of people in the workforce at firm levels.