Productivity, Wages and Unions in Japan

Productivity, Wages and Unions in Japan PDF Author: Takao Kato
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
This paper begins by providing the historical context for the study of the link between productivity and wages and the role of unions in Japan since 1980. Using quantitative data from a variety of surveys conducted by the Japanese Government and qualitative data from field research, it then documents significant changes in the nature of Japanese unions and Shunto wage bargaining and their role in generating the link between productivity and wages during Japan's "Lost Decade" and subsequent quiet recovery. Wages did not lag behind productivity growth during the "Japanese Miracle" that preceded the "Lost Decade" thanks in part to the contribution of an effective neutral third-party institution trusted by all parties to the development of a share economy with strong cooperation between labour and management and a strong link between wages and productivity. During the "Lost Decade", wages started to fall behind productivity growth, however. Negotiations over base wage increases (base-up) were less pervasive, and negotiations over bonuses took centre stage. The idea of establishing the market for annual wage settlements became less relevant, suggesting the diminishing value of the Shunto synchronization of wage negotiations. In the end, the Japanese bonus system proved to be less downward rigid than the base wage, and this downward flexibility of bonuses appears to be a major factor in lagging wages (along with an insufficient increase in the base wage when productivity rises). The possibility that the changing nature of Japanese enterprise unions was an underlying cause of lagging wages is explored, and policy implications are identified

Productivity, Wages and Unions in Japan

Productivity, Wages and Unions in Japan PDF Author: Takao Kato
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 0

Get Book Here

Book Description
This paper begins by providing the historical context for the study of the link between productivity and wages and the role of unions in Japan since 1980. Using quantitative data from a variety of surveys conducted by the Japanese Government and qualitative data from field research, it then documents significant changes in the nature of Japanese unions and Shunto wage bargaining and their role in generating the link between productivity and wages during Japan's "Lost Decade" and subsequent quiet recovery. Wages did not lag behind productivity growth during the "Japanese Miracle" that preceded the "Lost Decade" thanks in part to the contribution of an effective neutral third-party institution trusted by all parties to the development of a share economy with strong cooperation between labour and management and a strong link between wages and productivity. During the "Lost Decade", wages started to fall behind productivity growth, however. Negotiations over base wage increases (base-up) were less pervasive, and negotiations over bonuses took centre stage. The idea of establishing the market for annual wage settlements became less relevant, suggesting the diminishing value of the Shunto synchronization of wage negotiations. In the end, the Japanese bonus system proved to be less downward rigid than the base wage, and this downward flexibility of bonuses appears to be a major factor in lagging wages (along with an insufficient increase in the base wage when productivity rises). The possibility that the changing nature of Japanese enterprise unions was an underlying cause of lagging wages is explored, and policy implications are identified

The Economic Effects of Trade Unions in Japan

The Economic Effects of Trade Unions in Japan PDF Author: T. Tachibanaki
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 0333983807
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 215

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Book Description
The book attempts to examine whether trade unions in Japan contributed to raising wages, productivity and firm's performance. In the western world trade unions are often regarded as organizations which prevent firms from performing well. The Japanese case may be different from Europe and North America. The book investigates who in Japan joins trade unions and asks whether there is any difference in the satisfaction level of employees, the wage level, and labour turnover rates between union members and non-union members?

Work and Pay in Japan

Work and Pay in Japan PDF Author: Robert A. Hart
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9780521577724
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 206

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Book Description
This book provides a comprehensive overview of Japanese labour market institutions and practices with respect to employment issues and labour payments. It contains extensive discussion of the effects of industrial relations, small business activity, business cycles and schooling on work and pay. An early chapter is devoted to presenting, in an accessible manner, essential labour market ideas and concepts that recur throughout the text. Important topics covered include (i) unions and wage determination, (ii) the breakdown of total labour costs, (iii) the Japanese bonus system, (iv) the employment life-cycle, (v) small businesses and subcontracting, (vi) pay and productivity over the business cycle. A key feature is that subject areas and themes are examined within a comparative United States/European framework. This allows assessments of whether or not the structure and performance of the Japanese labour market has differed from experience elsewhere.

Wages in Japan Today

Wages in Japan Today PDF Author: Makoto Sakurabayashi
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Wages
Languages : en
Pages : 106

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Book Description


Disparaged Success

Disparaged Success PDF Author: Ikuo Kume
Publisher: Cornell University Press
ISBN: 150173184X
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 256

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Book Description
Japanese scholars have begun to challenge conventional wisdom about effective labor organizing, and Ikuo Kume has written the first book in English to advance their controversial theory. Since at least the early 1980s, the power of organized labor has weakened in most advanced industrial countries. The decline of organized labor has coincided with the decentralization of labor-management relations. As a result, most observers assume that decentralized labor is destined to lose power in a capitalist economy, and that enterprise unions will tend to be docile and powerless. Kume documents the one notable exception. The Japanese trade union confederation has steadily grown in importance, expanding its scope beyond individual companies to national policy making. Kume traces the achievements of enterprise unionism in private firms. Labor, he argues, slowly gained legitimate corporate membership by establishing joint institutions with management. By the 1960s, labor-management councils, stimulated by foreign competition, had become a widespread feature of Japanese industry. Soon unions were regular participants in the government deliberation councils and in the information exchange that shaped policy when inflation hit the Japanese economy. The unions had become a full partner by the 1980s and were crucially involved in the 1993 defeat of the Liberal Democratic Party after thirty-eight years of rule.

Work and Pay in the United States and Japan

Work and Pay in the United States and Japan PDF Author: Clair Brown
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN:
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 260

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Book Description
This work analyzes elements such as employee training and involvement programs, wage behavior as an incentive system and an alternate channel of savings, and synchronous wage determination (Shunto) at work in the Japanese economy that provide for such successes.

The Labor Economies of Japan and the United States

The Labor Economies of Japan and the United States PDF Author: Robert Evans
Publisher: New York : Praeger
ISBN:
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 312

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Book Description
Comparison of the labour relations systems of Japan and the USA - covers trade union development and growth, the strike, public employment policy, the employment relationship and the labour contract, labour force (incl. Rural workers and the woman worker force), labour mobility, unemployment, aggregate wages patterns, productivity, collective bargaining, labour supply, profits, etc. Bibliography pp. 263 to 276, references and statistical tables.

Shunto Wage Offensive

Shunto Wage Offensive PDF Author: Akira Takanashi
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Industrial relations
Languages : en
Pages : 140

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Book Description


Three Principles of Productivity Movement in Japan

Three Principles of Productivity Movement in Japan PDF Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Industrial productivity
Languages : en
Pages : 38

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Book Description


The Wages of Affluence

The Wages of Affluence PDF Author: Andrew Gordon
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 296

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Book Description
Gordon reveals a complex history of contest and confrontation in the Japanese workplace. Beginning with Occupation reforms and their influence, Gordon traces worker activism and protest in the 1950s and ’60s, and how they gave way to management victory in the 1960s and ’70s.