Winds of Change? Japanese Human Resource Practices and Industrial Relations

During an extended period of economic recession for most of the 1990s, broad and striking changes have been made to the Japanese employment system. How fundamental or reversible they are is harder to evaluate. This paper discusses the Japanese employment system and its changes. It is concluded that if the economic recovery prevails, a considerable stabilization of Japanese human resource practices can be expected, although at a higher level of marketoriented flexibility than previously existed. Further, despite the connection between the seniority-based salary system and the lifetime employment regime, more future changes can be expected in the former than the latter. Also in the case of the Japanese system of industrial relations, a safe conclusion is that its main characteristics will most probably be maintained in coming years.