A new perspective of researches for unstable employment based on contracting periods

2018 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 16K13368
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Exploratory Research
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Public finance/Public economy
• Research Institution: The University of Tokyo
• Principal Investigator: Genda Yuji 東京大学, 社会科学研究所, 教授 (90245366)
• Project Period (FY): 2016-04-01 – 2019-03-31
• Keywords: 雇用契約 / 非正規雇用 / 賃金 / 能力開発 / 労働基準法 / 外国人労働者

Outline of Final Research Achievements

This research attempts to construct a new analytical framework which clarifies the precise facts and proposes the appropriate responses for growing unstable employment, based on the objective index of the “employment contracting period,” instead of the ambiguous one of “regular/non/regular employment distinction.” Most labor policies, connecting with the law amendments of definite labor contracts and dispatched employment, are actually executed, based on the labor contract period, and therefore, it is important to consider the several labor market outcomes with the perspective for the contracting terms. Further, we focus on not a few of employees who do not know their contract terms as unstable employment which has never been considered. Then we can find that these employees without the knowledge of contacting terms are quite dissatisfied with their wages and working conditions.

Free Research Field

労働経済学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

従来の不安定雇用の研究は正規・非正規という区分に着目されることが多かった一方、実際の労働政策は雇用契約期間に基づくのが一般的であり、研究と政策に齟齬がみられる場合も少なくなかった。本研究が不安定雇用に関する政策と研究の新たな橋渡しとなる社会的意義は小さくない。また実際の雇用が無期・一般時間と有期・短時間の二分から大きく乖離し、多様化が進んでいる実態を、実証分析に基づき一般向けに紹介したことの意義もある。さらに「期間不明」という新たな不安定雇用の視点を導入することで、非正規雇用のなかでも特に必要な集中的支援層や外国人労働者に関する新たな政策的論点を提示した点にも学術的意義が見出される。