Inequality in the Workplace

Jiyeoun Song

Description

The past several decades have seen widespread reform of labor markets across advanced industrial countries, but most of the existing research on job security, wage bargaining, and social protection is based on the experience of the United States and Western Europe. In Inequality in the Workplace, Jiyeoun Song focuses on South Korea and Japan, which have advanced labor market reform and confronted the rapid rise of a split in labor markets between protected regular workers and underprotected and underpaid nonregular workers. The two countries have implemented very different strategies in response to the pressure to increase labor market flexibility during economic downturns. Japanese policy makers, Song finds, have relaxed the rules and regulations governing employment and working conditions for part-time, temporary, and fixed-term contract employees while retaining extensive protections for full-time permanent workers. In Korea, by contrast, politicians have weakened employment protections for all categories of workers. In her comprehensive survey of the politics of labor market reform in East Asia, Song argues that institutional features of the labor market shape the national trajectory of reform. More specifically, she shows how the institutional characteristics of the employment protection system and industrial relations, including the size and strength of labor unions, determine the choice between liberalization for the nonregular workforce and liberalization for all as well as the degree of labor market inequality in the process of reform.

Sujets

• Employabilité, métiers et formations
• Industrial relations
• Political economy
• History of Asia

Informations

• Publié par: Cornell University Press
• Date de parution: 06 février 2014
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9780801471018
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 2 Mo

Extrait

INEQUALITY IN THE WORKPLACE

INEQUALITY INTHE WORKPLACE Labor Market Reform in Japan and Korea

Jiyeoun Song

CORNELL UNIVERSITY PRESS ITHACA AND LONDON

Copyright © 2014 by Cornell University

All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in a review, this book, or parts thereof, must not be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from the publisher. For information, address Cornell University Press, Sage House, 512 East State Street, Ithaca, New York 14850.

First published 2014 by Cornell University Press Printed in the United States of America

Library of Congress CataloginginPublication Data

Song, Jiyeoun, 1975– author.  Inequality in the workplace : labor market reform in Japan and Korea / Jiyeoun Song.  pages cm  Includes bibliographical references and index.  ISBN 9780801452154 (cloth : alk. paper)  1. Labor market–Japan. 2. Labor market–Korea (South) 3. Manpower policy–Japan. 4. Manpower policy–Korea (South) I. Title.  HD5827.A6S655 2014  331.120952—dc23 2013035320

Cornell University Press strives to use environmentally responsible suppliers and materials to the fullest extent possible in the publishing of its books. Such materialsincludevegetablebased,lowVOCinksandacidfreepapersthatare recycled, totally chlorinefree, or partly composed of nonwood fibers. For further information,visitourwebsiteatwww.cornellpress.cornell.edu.

Cloth printing

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

To my parents, Deungil Song and Soonnam Hwang

Contents

List of Tables and Figures Acknowledgments Acronyms, Abbreviations, and Terms

Introduction 1. Japanese and Korean Labor Markets and Social Protections in Comparative Perspective 2. The Politics of Labor Market Reform in Hard Times 3. The Institutional Origins of the Labor Market and Social Protections in Japan and Korea 4. Japan: Liberalization for Outsiders, Protection for Insiders 5. l WorkersKorea: Liberalization for All, Except for Chaebo˘ Conclusion

Notes References Index

ix xi xv

1

19

46

67

84

119

162

179 201 223

Tables and Figures

Tables I.1 in labor market reform Variations 1.1  Employment protection regimes for regular workers in Japan and Korea, summary scores by three main areas 1.2  Major legislative changes in the Japanese and Korean labor markets, 1986–2011 1.3  Wagesetting institutions 1.4  Union organization rates and collective bargaining coverage 1.5  Public spending on labor market programs and social protections 1.6  Nonstatutory social welfare spending by private sectors (% of GDP) 1.7  Coverage of social welfare programs in Japan and Korea, 2005 2.1  Theory of labor market reform, inequality, and dualism 4.1  Percentage of Japanese firms implementing early retirement program 4.2  Japan’s labor market and social protection reform since the mid1980s 5.1  Korea’s labor market and social protection reform since the late 1980s

Figures I.1 growth rates in Japan and Korea Economic (real GDP growth rates) 1.1  Employment protection regimes for regular workers 1.2  Employment protection regimes for temporary workers 1.3  Proportion of the nonregular workforce in Japan and Korea 1.4  Changes in the workforce in the Japanese and Korean labor markets

ix

5

25

27 35

38

40

42

43 54

95

99

131

12 22 23

30

32