Transforming the Japanese labour market: deregulation and the rise of temporary staffing

Abstract

The Japanese employment system has undergone significant structural change since the early 1990s. Widespread deregulation and industrial restructuring have increased the number of non-regular workers in Japan, including ‘dispatch’ workers supplied by temporary staffing agencies. This paper charts the evolution of Japan’s temporary staffing industry in three stages from 1947 to the present. These phases are delimited by two important regulatory changes with respect to temporary staffing – partial legalization in 1986, and full legalization in 1999. The paper argues that a distinctively Japanese industry has been produced through a multi-institutional field involving the interaction of a range of actors.