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10 - Abe’s Slight Left Turn

How a Labor Shortage Transformed Politics and Policy

from Part IV - Third Arrow of Abenomics

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 February 2021

By
Steven K. Vogel
Edited by
Takeo Hoshi  and
Phillip Y. Lipscy
Takeo Hoshi
Affiliation:
University of Tokyo
Phillip Y. Lipscy
Affiliation:
University of Toronto
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Summary

The second administration of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe that took power in 2012 changed course from a neoliberal program of maximizing employer flexibility to cut labor costs to a more social democratic policy of improving employee welfare to boost labor participation and productivity. Abe and his advisors did so not due to any ideological conversion but rather as a pragmatic response to the marketplace shift from labor surplus to labor shortage. They embraced policies to support a higher birthrate; increase the workforce, especially among women and the elderly; make workers feel more secure; and raise wages to increase disposable income. This culminated in the “Work Style Reform” (hatarakikata kaikaku) legislation of 2018, which limited overtime hours and promoted more equal pay for equal work. Progressives certainly hoped for bolder reforms, but the policy shift nonetheless altered some Japanese labor practices.

Keywords

JapanlaborpoliticsShinzo AbeAbenomicsthird arrowwork style reform
Type
Chapter
Information
The Political Economy of the Abe Government and Abenomics Reforms , pp. 271 - 309
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2021

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