Rethinking Japan's Lifetime Employment for the 21st Century

Japan’s practice of so-called lifetime employment is well known. This system arose out of labour unrest in the early post-war years and was the result of both collective bargaining and recognition by bureaucratic and corporate leaders that Japan needed to secure a committed workforce and a stable labour market if it was to pursue long-term economic growth. The system was constructed around three central pillars which were viewed as distinctly Japanese - implicit long-term employment for a core regular workforce, seniority-based wages and enterprise-based unions - and this focused employment strategy was heralded as a key factor driving Japan’s subsequent economic advancement. It was also founded upon a more universal concept at that time - the male breadwinner model. This meant a distinctive female employment system developed alongside the better known lifetime employment system which was predominantly applied to male employees. Japan was able to reap the social and economic benefits of a gendered division of labour that harnessed the strong commitment of a core male workforce while effectively making use of a growing non-regular female workforce as a buffer to ensure stable employment for males.