Corporate employment strategies in Japan, 1991 -2003

The focus of this article is corporate employment strategies in Japan for the period 1991-2003. Making use of aggregate data relating to the engagement and separation processes, two themes are examined: the use made of inter-establishment transfer and the employment of contingent workers, represented by female and part-time employees. The aim is to investigate the extent to which the use of both changed over a period in which there were dramatic changes in the external economic environment of organisations. Inter-establishment transfer was found to be more prevalent in some industries than others. However, its incidence did not change over the time period of the study. There was also no change in the percentage of women hired. However, there was an increase in the percentage of part-time employees hired, especially within the tertiary sector post-1998.