ABSTRACT
The Structural Reformation has rapidly advanced foreign direct investment (FDI), mainly towards East Asian economies. As discussed below, the de facto dismissal rights of employer are remarkably strengthened, and thus FDI was implicitly subsidized during the Structural Reformation. The former was enacted by the deregulations of the Worker Dispatching Act (WDA; Rodosha Haken Ho) and the Employment Security Act (ESA; Shokugyo Antei Ho). These deregulations have drastically widened the opportunity for hiring untenured employees, specifically in the manufacturing industry. As such, dismissing tenured employees has become quite easy compared with the High-Growth era, and the bargaining power of employees concerning wage/employment negotiation is thwarted rapidly throughout the Structural Reformation era.
