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October 1995, Vol. 118, No.
10
Susan Houseman and Machiko Osawa
P art-time workers represent a large and growing share of employment in Japan. Part-time employment increased more than 80 percent between 1982 and 1992, accounting for slightly more than 16 percent of paid employment in 1992 (up from 11 percent a decade earlier), according to data from Japan's Bureau of Statistics.
Temporary workers also represent a large share of employment. Temporary workers hired directly by companies on short-term contract accounted for more than 11 percent of paid employment in recent years, according to Bureau of Statistics figures. Temporary help agencies, which are subject to considerable regulation, were prohibited prior to 1985. Although the number of temporary help, or dispatched, workers had grown rapidly since 1985, they still account for under 1 percent of paid employment.
This article discusses recent trends in part-time and temporary employment and the characteristics of these temporary employment and the characteristics of these "nonregular" workers and their employers. It also look at the role of the Japanese industrial relations system, public policies, and other factors in the development of part-time and temporary employment.
This excerpt is from an article published in the October 1995 issue of the Monthly Labor Review. The full text of the article is available in Adobe Acrobat's Portable Document Format (PDF). See How to view a PDF file for more information.
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