1987 Fiscal Year Final Research Report Summary
Job Change and Promotion - - A Study of the Mobility in the Japanese Labor Markets
| Project/Area Number |
61530023
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| Research Category |
Grant-in-Aid for General Scientific Research (C)
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| Allocation Type | Single-year Grants |
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| Research Field |
経済事情及び政策学
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| Research Institution | Hitotsubashi University |
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Principal Investigator |
ONO Akira Hitotsubashi University, Department of Economics, Professor, 経済学部, 教授 (60054318)
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| Project Period (FY) |
1986 – 1987
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| Keywords | Labor market mobility / Internal wage structure / Lifetime employment / はえぬき登用の慣行 / 終身雇用制 / 長期勤続 / 信頼関係の形成 |
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| Research Abstract |
The aim of this research is to investigate the mobility of workers in the Japanese labor market in terms of internal wage structure and within-firm promotion.
(1) The internal wage structure in Japan could better be explained by living cost compensation hypothesis rather than by skill hypothesis. Since only a small fraction of wages can be attributed to tenure, it is not reasonable to assume that a factor which lowers labor market mobility is inherent in the internal wage structure. It is not tenure-wage profiles that deter workers form moving between different firms, but differences in wage levels by firm size which can be traced back to a large gap in ability to pay as well as the existence of trade unions.
(2) Another factor responsible for a low mobility rate is the custom prevailing in Japanese firms in which workers who do not have experience in other firms (that is who stay with one company all their lives) are highly appreciated and preferentially promoted to administrative positions. According to our research, based upon the Register of Companies' Personnels, this custom is more notable for managers (except excecutives). This would also lower the labor market mobility, because job changes tend to reduce the probability of promotion to higher position.
(3) Wage differentials by size and the custom of appreciating one-company workers are the main obstacles to labor market mobility. Due to them, the optimum allocation of labor is difficult to achieve. However, the above-mentioned custom enables firms to procure such a commodity as "trust among people", and to increase the efficiency of business activity.
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