PERMANENT EMPLOYMENT IN JAPAN: FACTS AND FANTASIES.

The article presents a study on permanent employment of Japanese blue-collar workers conducted in 1965-1966 in Japanese firms. The essence of a permanent employment system is present in any industrial society. All enterprises attempt to reduce employee turnover and its attendant costs, especially if investment in specific training of individuals is significant. Workers also have economic and psychological stakes in their employment. Labor market arrangements must guarantee some degree of employment tenure if they are successfully to motivate employees. The Japanese labor market can best be understood if its similarities to the labor markets of other industrialized nations are examined along with its distinctive characteristics. Few social practices in postwar Japan have so caught the attention of American social scientists, as has the practice of permanent employment. Permanent employment generally means that an employee enters a large firm after school graduation receives in-company training and remains an employee in the same company until the retirement age of fifty-five. It is a pattern limited primarily to male employees.