The Japanese employment system (ePub)

Seminar paper from the year 2006 in the subject Sociology - Work, Profession, Education, Organisation, grade: 1,7, University of Osnabrück, course: Economical and Technical Development and Organisation, WS 05/06, language: English, abstract: After Japan recovered from the disastrous defeat of World War II, its enormous economic
growth provided a series of questions to the world's leading economists. With constant
growth rates over 11% on average in the 1960s, Japan had the world's second largest
GDP.
Seeking explanations and reasons for this phenomenon, soon a couple of important
influences on the Japanese economy were found. The increased demands on Japanese
products during the conflicts in Vietnam after the Second World War (which led to the
Vietnam War 1964-1973) and the Korean War 1950 to 1953 as well as the government aid
for selected industries and protective duty accelerated its growth, which exceeded all
former expectations1.
Another important element of the Japanese prosperity was met with the Japanese-style
employment system2. What would primarily influence the image of the Japanese to the
further decades, the industrious, never sleeping blue-collar and white-collar workers,
fulfilling a life for the company in a state of mutual dependence, is the result of an
elaborate employment system.
And in fact, lifetime employment, a predetermined career path and the seniority-based
wage system were established to commit the regular workers to "their" company, while the
temporary workers still did not reach a similar status.
This "Japanese Model", as several authors call it, is subject to constant change. Even
though the system was never fixed, it changed its surface not before the "collapse of the
bubble" in 1990.
Shortly after this prolonged economic recession, which forced every industrialised country
to undertake economic restructuring, Japan was able to recover very fast through strict
rationalisation and a revision of its employment system. Today, Japan has changed. Still the second largest economy of the world, it has to
confront an economic growth close to 2%. With this comes a call for a more flexible
employment system which still has to pay the regular workers who many years ago were
attracted with the seniority-based wage system reflecting the workers higher needs in
subsequent years. Furthermore, the new generation of workers is organised in unions and
knows their value to the market, and would not agree earning half the sum a senescent
worker does.