ABSTRACT
The twin pillars of postwar Japan—stable jobs and stable families—have been undermined due to the precaritization of employment during the Heisei era. The transition from the lifetime employment model of secure jobs to one featuring greater risk represents a slow-motion paradigm shift, one driven by a structural shift in the economy from manufacturing to services and facilitated by labour market deregulation since 1999. A rising proportion of the workforce, about 38% as of 2018, is engaged in non-regular employment with all the disadvantages this status entails—lower wages, less job security, limited career growth prospects, higher rates of poverty, and lower marriage rates. This is exacting a high toll on workers, especially women and the young, whose career aspirations are thwarted. The surge in non-regular employment is also lowering productivity, stoking deflation while undermining the viability of pension and national insurance schemes.
