Japan’s New Inequality: Intersection of Employment Reforms and Welfare Arrangements

After the collapse of Japan’s bubble-economy in the late 1980s, a wide range of neo-liberal reforms were introduced which dramatically affected the nature of the labour market. These reforms expanded and consolidated a two-tier market, widening the gap between those who benefit from the ‘company citizenship’ of ‘regular’ (long-term, secure) employment conditions and those who are increasingly disadvantaged by reduced income and security in the peripheral non-regular system of casual and short-term employment.

The contributions in this volume use the 2005 Social Stratification and Mobility (SSM) survey data to analyse the effects of Japanese labour market reforms on social mobility, social welfare, company ‘citizenship’, incomes, as well as the policy implications for homelessness.