Signs of a Favorable Reappraisal of Japanese-style Employment Practices

On March 31, the Japan Institute for Labour Policy and Training (JILPT) published the results of their 4th Survey on Working Life.

The latest publication, the fourth of a series, was carried out in August and September 2004, aimed at 4,000 persons aged 20 or above working as regular, temporary or part-time workers. The interview survey received answers from 2,729 respondents.

It is a well-known fact that "life-long employment" and the "seniority-based wage profile," which have long been regarded as pillars of Japanese-style employment practices, are now often referred to as systems of the past. Amidst this changing evaluation of employment systems, the survey findings surprisingly revealed that the proportion of those who support "life-long employment" and the "seniority-based wage profile," has been increasing over the last five years, and marked a record high in the latest survey.

More specifically, the proportion of those who replied that the life-long employment system is "good" or "better than the alternatives" stood at 78 percent, an increase of 1.8 percent from the previous survey in 2001, and an increase of 5.7 percent from the first survey carried out in 1999. A conspicuous increase was observed among males in their 40s (a rise of 7.7% to 78.7%) and females in their 30s (a rise of 5.1% to 77.4%). The proportion of those who support the seniority wage profile rose by 4.4 percent from the previous survey to 66.7 percent. The increasing support among males was particularly seen among those in their 50s (a rise of 9.7% to 68.9%), whereas among female respondents it was most marked in those in their 30s (a rise of 9.1% to 64.5%).

This trend is a clear indication that workers are increasingly valuing security in the face of recent corporate moves, for example, the replacement of regular employees with temporary workers and the introduction of performance-based pay. The survey results find that the age group with small children in particular are becoming more stability-oriented, but, at the same time, the younger generation who are generally believed to have a weaker sense of corporate loyalty and show a strong inclination to the ability-oriented systems are, in fact, giving stronger support to those traditional systems. (Lifelong employment was supported by 64.2% of males and 66.4% of females in their 20s, while the seniority wage profile was supported by 51.5% of males and 60.6% of females in their 20s.)

The survey results also show that, while agreeing with more diversified working styles, 97.7 percent of regular employees and 68.8% of non-regular employees wish to work as regular employees, clarifying the facts that there are a large number of workers who wish to remain or become regular employees, and that non-regular employees are more concerned about the risk of losing their jobs, and are thus less satisfied with their lives.

Whether their responses to the survey represent a temporary conservatism born in the midst of profound changes, or the fact that they don´t find these changes transparent and attractive, is still open to question.