Firm-level labor demand for and macroeconomic increases in non-regular workers in Japan

H. Teruyama , Y. Goto , Sebastien Lechevalier (1)

1 GREThA - Groupe de Recherche en Economie Théorique et Appliquée

The purpose of this study is to account for the increase in non-regular workers, namely, part-time and dispatched workers, in the Japanese economy from the early 2000s. We use a firm-level panel dataset extracted from an administrative survey and distinguish between the short-run and long-run determinants of non-regular labor demand. Using the estimated parameters of the labor demand function, we decompose the rate of increase in the macroeconomic non-regular worker ratio into determinant factor contributions. Our major results can be summarized as follows. First, the firm-level determinants of the demand for part-time and dispatched workers significantly differ. Second, our results suggest that the creation of part-time jobs stimulated by the increased female labor supply plays an essential role in non-regular worker growth relative to direct demand-side factors. On the contrary, increases in both the elderly and the female labor supply have reduced demand for dispatched workers. Third, the microeconomic demand conditions for non-regular labor are widely dispersed among firms. Neither the micro demand factors examined in this study nor industrial differences can explain this heterogeneity.

Mots clés: Japan; Dispatched Workers; Female Labor Supply; Firm-Level Labor Demand; Non-Regular Employment; Part-Time Workers

Domaines: Économie et finance quantitative [q-fin]

H. Teruyama, Y. Goto, Sebastien Lechevalier. Firm-level labor demand for and macroeconomic increases in non-regular workers in Japan. Japan and the World Economy, In press, 48(C), pp.90-105. ⟨10.1016/j.japwor.2018.08.006⟩. ⟨hal-03122684⟩