IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/hit/hituec/776.html

Why Are Japan’s Trade Unions Actually Growing? A Decomposition of Population Datasets

Author

Listed:
  • WELS, Jacques
  • BRYSON, Alex
  • KAMBAYASHI, Ryo
  • KUWAHARA, Susumu
  • NAKAMURA, Akie

Abstract

This study examines two decades of unionization trends in Japan, comparing administrative data from the Basic Survey on Labor Unions (OECD source) with three population-based surveys: the Survey on Work and Life of Workers (SWLW), Japan Household Panel Survey (JHPS), and Japanese General Social Survey (JGSS). While official statistics show declining union density (falling to 16.4% by 2022), survey data reveal consistently higher rates (23-30%) and upward trends. Using shift-share analyses and Blinder-Oaxaca decomposition across two periods (X and Y), we identify workplace union presence as the primary driver of membership growth, accounting for a quarter of the observed increase. We find rising unionization among traditionally underrepresented groups: part-timers show significant unexplained membership gains (0.25 percentage points), suggesting successful outreach beyond compositional changes. Small firms (

Suggested Citation

  • WELS, Jacques & BRYSON, Alex & KAMBAYASHI, Ryo & KUWAHARA, Susumu & NAKAMURA, Akie, 2026. "Why Are Japan’s Trade Unions Actually Growing? A Decomposition of Population Datasets," Discussion Paper Series 776, Institute of Economic Research, Hitotsubashi University.
    • Handle: RePEc:hit:hituec:776
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://hit-u.repo.nii.ac.jp/record/2061614/files/DP776.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Mariana Colacelli & Mr. Gee Hee Hong, 2019. "Productivity Drag from Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises in Japan," IMF Working Papers 2019/137, International Monetary Fund.
    2. DiNardo, John & Fortin, Nicole M & Lemieux, Thomas, 1996. "Labor Market Institutions and the Distribution of Wages, 1973-1992: A Semiparametric Approach," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 64(5), pages 1001-1044, September.
    3. José A. F. Machado & José Mata, 2005. "Counterfactual decomposition of changes in wage distributions using quantile regression," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 20(4), pages 445-465, May.
    4. Martyn Andrews & Robin Naylor, 1994. "Declining Union Density in the 1980s: What Do Panel Data Tell Us?," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 32(3), pages 413-432, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Töpfer, Marina, 2017. "Detailed RIF decomposition with selection: The gender pay gap in Italy," Hohenheim Discussion Papers in Business, Economics and Social Sciences 26-2017, University of Hohenheim, Faculty of Business, Economics and Social Sciences.
    2. Sergio Longobardi & Margherita Maria Pagliuca & Andrea Regoli, 2018. "Can problem-solving attitudes explain the gender gap in financial literacy? Evidence from Italian students’ data," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 52(4), pages 1677-1705, July.
    3. Qu, Zhaopeng (Frank) & Zhao, Zhong, 2008. "Urban-Rural Consumption Inequality in China from 1988 to 2002: Evidence from Quantile Regression Decomposition," IZA Discussion Papers 3659, IZA Network @ LISER.
    4. Victor Chernozhukov & Iván Fernández‐Val & Blaise Melly, 2013. "Inference on Counterfactual Distributions," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 81(6), pages 2205-2268, November.
    5. repec:pra:mprapa:48888 is not listed on IDEAS
    6. repec:dgr:rugggd:gd-114 is not listed on IDEAS
    7. Calvo,Paula Andrea & Lopez-Calva,Luis-Felipe & Posadas,Josefina, 2015. "A decade of declining earnings inequality in the Russian Federation," Policy Research Working Paper Series 7392, The World Bank.
    8. Sloczynski, Tymon, 2013. "Population Average Gender Effects," IZA Discussion Papers 7315, IZA Network @ LISER.
    9. Gale, William & Pence, Karen, 2006. "Are Successive Generations Getting Wealthier, and If So, Why?Evidence from the 1990s," MPRA Paper 55502, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    10. Wang, Wen & Lien, Donald, 2018. "Union membership, union coverage and wage dispersion of rural migrants: Evidence from Suzhou industrial sector," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 49(C), pages 96-113.
    11. Luis Ayala & Javier Martín‐Román & Juan Vicente, 2024. "What contributes to rising inequality in large cities?," Journal of Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 64(5), pages 1760-1810, November.
    12. Manuel Arellano & Stéphane Bonhomme, 2017. "Quantile Selection Models With an Application to Understanding Changes in Wage Inequality," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 85, pages 1-28, January.
    13. Raymundo M. Campos-Vazquez & Nora Lustig, 2017. "Labour income inequality in Mexico: Puzzles solved and unsolved," Working Papers 1719, Tulane University, Department of Economics.
    14. Juan Manuel del Pozo Segura, 2017. "Has the Gender Wage Gap been Reduced during the 'Peruvian Growth Miracle?' A Distributional Approach," Documentos de Trabajo / Working Papers 2017-442, Departamento de Economía - Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú.
    15. Zhu, Rong, 2016. "Wage differentials between urban residents and rural migrants in urban China during 2002–2007: A distributional analysis," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 37(C), pages 2-14.
    16. Sonja C. Kassenboehmer & Mathias G. Sinning, 2014. "Distributional Changes in the Gender Wage Gap," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 67(2), pages 335-361, April.
    17. repec:osf:socarx:f53kz_v1 is not listed on IDEAS
    18. Domenico Depalo & Raffaela Giordano & Evangelia Papapetrou, 2015. "Public–private wage differentials in euro-area countries: evidence from quantile decomposition analysis," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 49(3), pages 985-1015, November.
    19. Raymundo M. Campos-Vázquez, 2013. "Why did wage inequality decrease in Mexico after NAFTA?," Economía Mexicana NUEVA ÉPOCA, CIDE, División de Economía, vol. 0(2), pages 245-278, July-Dece.
    20. Simona COMI & Mara GRASSENI, 2009. "Are Temporary Workers Discriminated Against? Evidence from Europe," CHILD Working Papers wp17_09, CHILD - Centre for Household, Income, Labour and Demographic economics - ITALY.
    21. Rosalia Castellano & Gaetano Musella & Gennaro Punzo, 2019. "Exploring changes in the employment structure and wage inequality in Western Europe using the unconditional quantile regression," Empirica, Springer;Austrian Institute for Economic Research;Austrian Economic Association, vol. 46(2), pages 249-304, May.
    22. Cobb-Clark, Deborah A. & Sinning, Mathias G., 2011. "Neighborhood diversity and the appreciation of native- and immigrant-owned homes," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 41(3), pages 214-226, May.
    23. Francine D. Blau & Lawrence M. Kahn, 2006. "The U.S. Gender Pay Gap in the 1990S: Slowing Convergence," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 60(1), pages 45-66, October.

    More about this item

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:hit:hituec:776. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Hiromichi Miyake (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/iehitjp.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.