The driving forces behind the falling labour share and persistent unemployment in Japan

Like in most advanced countries, the labour income share in Japan has been falling since the mid-1970s. However, in contrast to other advanced economies, Japan experienced an exceptional recessive period in the 1990s and 2000s, with the rate of unemployment rising to a historical maximum of 5.5% in...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Agnese, Pablo, Sala, Hector
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Fecha de publicación:2011
País:España
Institución:Varias* (Consorci de Biblioteques Universitáries de Catalunya, Centre de Serveis Científics i Acadèmics de Catalunya)
Repositorio:Recercat. Dipósit de la Recerca de Catalunya
OAI Identifier:oai:recercat.cat:20.500.12328/4126
Acceso en línea:http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12328/4126
https://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-0106.2011.00566.x
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Atur
Desempleo
Japó
Unemployment
Japan
Japón
37
Descripción
Sumario:Like in most advanced countries, the labour income share in Japan has been falling since the mid-1970s. However, in contrast to other advanced economies, Japan experienced an exceptional recessive period in the 1990s and 2000s, with the rate of unemployment rising to a historical maximum of 5.5% in 2002, to persist above 4% in subsequent years. In the present paper, we examine the main causes behind the paths followed by the labour income share and the unemployment rate during the post-1997 crisis period (1997–2002) and the transition years that followed (2002–2009). We do so by estimating a multi-equation macro model that allows us to look separately at the various components of this particular labour market: wages, output, and employment. Our main finding is that the fall in the labour share can be attributed to the changes that took place within the labour relations system (the weakening of unions mainly) and that the surge in unemployment can be altogether ascribed to the distorting effects of the sizeable and increasing public debt.