Personnel Systems in Japanese Local Governments

Personnel systems and policies can have a substantial influence on the quality of local government. This paper shows that Japanese local governments provide stable and well-paid careers. Indeed, pay scales are slightly higher than those of central government staff. As a result, Japanese local governments have attracted good staff into their ranks and built up strong human resource capacity over time. Moreover, the tendency for a brain drain to the central government has been restrained. Also, the similarity of personnel systems across local government units has led to a convergence of skill bases across such units over time. World Bank Institute