The Japanese Employment System

The Japanese Employment System One of the unique and well known features of the Japanese employment system is permanent employment for workers. Japanese corporations responses to recessionary periods provide an opportunity to sort out the myths from the realities of the Japanese permanent employment system. During recessions Japanese companies forced to reduce their costs achieve reductions in several ways. First, they reduce the number of women and temporary workers they employ. During the recession that …

…position for a company lose their jobs when recession hits. And because many women who lose their jobs become housewives and don't apply for unemployment insurance they become the invisible unemployed, uncounted by labor department statistics. The "permanent" employment system in Japan is only a permanent employment for non-temporary male workers not near retirement age, during recessions when companies are forced to cut costs mostly female, temporary, and elderly workers wind up loosing their jobs.