The Downward Spiral : Non-regular employment and consequences of labour market reform under Prime Minister Koizumi

Abstract

This paper is an examination of how the Japanese labour market has changed over the last twenty years through neoliberal reform, as exemplified by the “structural reforms” of the Koizumi Cabinet of 2001-2006. The transition from a labour force consisting mostly of regular workers with a fringe of temporary and part-time workers to the present-day situation, where more than a third of the workforce is in non-regular employment was by no means an overnight affair attributable to the Koizumi Cabinet alone, yet the increased pace, scope and consequences of the Koizumi reforms make this a fruitful time frame for further scrutiny. Japan is not alone in having a flexibilized labour market; many Western nations have levels of temporary employment just as high. Where Japan differs, however, is in her drastically lower number of immigrant workers, spawning the urgent need to make her workforce capable of caring for the growing ranks of elderly, as well as for themselves. The lack of job stability and a social safety net, as well as the difficulties people face when trying to get out of the spiral of non-regular employment, makes sure that for many, the image of Japan as ichioku-sochu-ryu, or “middle-class nation”, is but a distant memory.