2022 Fiscal Year Final Research Report
Evaluating Work Style Reform: A Workplace-centered Study of Policy Outcomes
| Project/Area Number |
19H01561
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| Research Category |
Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (B)
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| Allocation Type | Single-year Grants |
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| Section | 一般 |
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| Review Section |
Basic Section 08010:Sociology-related
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| Research Institution | Osaka University |
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Principal Investigator |
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| Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha) |
児島 真爾 立命館アジア太平洋大学, アジア太平洋学部, 准教授 (30734941)
Charles Weathers 大阪公立大学, 大学院経済学研究科, 名誉教授 (50305611)
大谷 順子 大阪大学, 大学院人間科学研究科, 教授 (90403930)
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| Project Period (FY) |
2019-04-01 – 2022-03-31
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| Keywords | labor reform, Japan / equal pay for equal work / labor litigation, Japan / labor politics, Japan |
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| Outline of Final Research Achievements |
This study of labor market change and working conditions investigated the role of major labor law changes, so-called Work Style Reforms, enacted in 2018. To understand the effects of the reforms, we gathered data on particular occupations and types of employment. We chose occupations and work sites in which the need for reform was great. Long work hours and harsh work conditions resulting in damage to health were announced as important motives for the reforms. In published papers and at international conferences, we presented research findings outlining the conditions that the reforms were purported to address. We also reported on changes brought about by the reforms. A main finding is that 5-year exemptions granted to employers in fields such as medicine, teaching, and trucking mean little has changed in those fields. However, the reforms have encouraged expansion of employment types and reified the basis for legal inequalities in Japan's employment system.
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| Free Research Field |
Sociology
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| Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements |
We have shown how labor reforms, assumed to improve working conditions, may not do so. Cosmetic changes tend to enshrine employer rights so that wages and benefits can be suppressed. The 2018 reforms have brought small benefits, but made it hard for workers to gain European style worker protections.
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