Wednesday 28 September 2005
6:00pm – 8:00pm
The Japanese Employment System: Adapting to a New Economic Environment
Daiwa Foundation Japan House
Organised by the Daiwa Anglo-Japanese Foundation
By Marcus Rebick
Published by Oxford University Press
Economic stagnation and an ageing society have led to major changes in the Japanese labour market. Relations between management and employees in Japanese corporations are becoming more individualistic with the introduction of performance-related pay and the future may see rising levels of income inequality.
This comprehensive study looks at how the employment system is adapting to its new economic environment. Using the latest statistical evidence, the book focuses on the growing use of part-time and other forms of atypical employment relationships, and illustrates how this is expressed in several different parts of the labour market. Particular attention is given to the changing situation of women, the decline of the family enterprise, the problems faced by older workers, the poor prospects for recent high school graduates, and the recent rise in unemployment.
This book will be of interest to anyone interested in what is happening today in Japan and what the possibilities are for the future.
Organised in association with The Japan Society.
About the contributors
Dr Marcus Rebick
Dr Marcus Rebick is University Lecturer on the Japanese Economy and Fellow of St. Antony’s College, Oxford University. He is currently Director of Asian Studies Centre at St Antony’s. He has also taught at the Industrial and Labour Relations School at Cornell and Harvard universities. Dr Rebick has been a visiting researcher at Japan Institute of Labour, Gakushuin University, Nagoya University and the Japan Development Bank. He has written numerous articles on Japan’s labour market and institutions. He is now editing The Changing Japanese Family with Ayumi Takenaka, which is scheduled to be published in March 2006 by Routledge.
Dr Helen Macnaughtan
Dr Helen Macnaughtan is Lecturer in International Business and Management for Japan in the Department of Financial and Management Studies (CeFiMS) at SOAS, University of London. Her book Women, Work and the Japanese Economic Miracle: the case of the cotton textile industry, 1945-1975 was published by Routledge this year. Her research interests include employment, gender and the social and economic history of Japan.