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Wage Differentials pp 35–71Cite as

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Japan: Wage Differentials and Changes since the 1980s

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Abstract

This chapter focuses on the wage structure in Japan during the 1980s and early 1990s. Thanks to earlier insightful studies, we now have a better understanding of various aspects of the Japanese labour market. For example, notable Japanese labour practices such as lifetime employment and seniority wages were long regarded as remnants of Japan’s premodern culture which would interfere with the modern economic growth by obstructing the efficient working of the labour market. In the 1990s, however, many researchers of Japanese firms believe that both of these are well-founded rational systems generating a prevalence of skilled workers and that they contributed to Japan’s economic success after the Second World War.

I would like to thank Yoshi Nakata and Toshiaki Tachibanaki for their comments and discussions. All possible errors are my own.

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Authors
  1. Yuji Genda
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Kyoto Institute of Economic Research, Kyoto University, Japan

    Toshiaki Tachibanaki

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© 1998 Palgrave Macmillan, a division of Macmillan Publishers Limited

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Genda, Y. (1998). Japan: Wage Differentials and Changes since the 1980s. In: Tachibanaki, T. (eds) Wage Differentials. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-26281-6_2

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