The driving forces behind the falling labour share and persistent unemployment in Japan
Author
Agnese, Pablo
Sala, Hector
Publication date
2011ISSN
1361-374X
Abstract
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.
Document Type
Article
Document version
Published version
Language
English
Subject (CDU)
37 - Education
Keywords
Atur
Desempleo
Unemployment
Japan
Japó
Japón
Pages
26
Publisher
John Wiley & Sons
Collection
16; 5
Is part of
Pacific Economic Review
Citation
Agnese, Pablo; Sala, Hector. The driving forces behind the falling labour share and persistent unemployment in Japan. Pacific Economic Review, 2011, 16(5), p. 577-603. Disponible en: <https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1468-0106.2011.00566.x>. Fecha de acceso: 27 feb. 2024. DOI: 10.1111/j.1468-0106.2011.00566.x
This item appears in the following Collection(s)
Rights
© 2011 The Authors. Pacific Economic Review. Blackwell Publishing Asia Pty Ltd.