Book launchTuesday 20 January 2015
6:00pm – 7:00pm
Labour market deregulation in Japan and Italy: Worker protection under neoliberal globalisation
Drinks reception from 7:00pm
13/14 Cornwall Terrace, London NW1 4QP
Organised by The Daiwa Anglo-Japanese Foundation
By Hiroaki Richard Watanabe
Published by Routledge
Since the collapse of the bubble economy in the early 1990s, Japan’s economic growth has been stagnant, and regional economic competition from neighbouring Asian countries has intensified. In this context, Japanese employers demanded flexible labour markets and cheaper workforces. This contributed not only to an increasing number of non-regular workers through labour market deregulation but also to social problems such as low fertility rates, growing inequality and working poor. ‘Labour market deregulation in Japan and Italy: Worker protection under neoliberal globalisation’ examines how labour market deregulation was implemented in Japan in comparison to Italy, which shared a number of similar labour market characteristics with Japan. The book shows that the ‘power resources’ of labour unions were crucial to deciding the characteristics of labour market deregulation in these countries by affecting labour policy-making structures. In his talk, Dr Watanabe explained what factors contributed to more extensive deregulation of non-regular employment (but also of regular employment to some extent) in Japan in comparison to Italy. He also discussed the link between labour market deregulation and Japan’s recent social problems such as low fertility rates and working poor, including the Abe cabinet’s growth strategies related to the labour market under ‘Abenomics’.
About the contributors
Dr Hiroaki Richard Watanabe
Dr Hiroaki Richard Watanabe (BA Tokyo, MA Yale, DPhil Oxford) is Lecturer in the School of East Asian Studies at the University of Sheffield since 2010. He has conducted research on comparative political economy of Japan and the international relations in East Asia, and published journal articles in Japan Forum, Il Politico, Journal of Contemporary Asia and Industrial Relations Journal to discuss comparative labour politics in Japan and Italy, institutional change in Japanese political economy and convergence and diversity under neoliberal globalisation. He regularly appeared in TV programs of Channel NewsAsia in Singapore and provided his expert opinions on such issues as US President Obama’s visit to Japan, political economy surrounding ‘Abenomics’ and Japan’s snap election to the House of Representatives in December 2014.