ABSTRACT
Invigorating business and the maintenance of employment are urgent tasks for the Japanese economy today. Empirical or quantitative research on the effects of legislation regarding Japanese labour markets has been poorly accumulated in recent decades. This chapter aims to estimate the effects of deregulation of labour standards legislation on employment and business activities in Japan. It provides a brief review of the literature on the relationship between labour protection and labour market performance, the scope of employment protection regulation, the measurement of employment protection legislation, and labour market flexibility and unemployment. Robert Evans, Jr reviews the empirical literature on the effect of employment protection legislation on labour market performance in the United States. He identifies labour market regulation in the following subject areas: labour unions, anti-discrimination, safety, wages under the Fair Labour Standards Act, notice of lay-off, employment at will, immigration, social security, private pensions. Then unemployment insurance, employer mandates, industrial deregulation, occupational licenses, family leave and employment agencies.
