Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-q99xh Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-23T00:30:24.908Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Economic System and Welfare Regime Dynamics in Japan since the Early 2000s – The Case of Occupational Pensions

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 August 2011

HARALD CONRAD
HARALD CONRAD*
Affiliation:
School of East Asian Studies, University of Sheffield, 6/8 Shearwood Road, Sheffield S10 2TD email: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This article discusses significant changes of Japanese occupational pensions since the early 2000s. Our analysis shows that these schemes have been key components of policies to promote private welfare provision and have been highly compatible with human capital investment strategies that are based on long-term employment relationships of regular workers. However, since the 1990s, occupational pensions have come under increased pressure due to underfunding problems caused by depressed stock markets and changes in accounting standards that made these underfunding problems apparent. In response to these challenges, Japanese companies have restructured their occupational pension arrangements. The nature of these efforts can be explained with reference to existing institutional complementarities with the economic system on the one hand and changes in the cost–benefit calculations of employers, employees and the civil service on the other hand. Whereas complementarities, especially with human resource management factors, have ultimately defined the limits of these changes, an actor-centered analysis helps to explain the particular nature of changes within these boundaries.

Type
Articles
Information
Journal of Social Policy , Volume 41 , Issue 1 , January 2012 , pp. 119 - 140
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2011

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Aoki, M. (1988), Information, Incentives and Bargaining in the Japanese Economy, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Aoki, M., Jackson, G. and Miyajima, H. (2007), Corporate Governance in Japan: Institutional Change and Organisational Diversity, Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bodie, Z., Marcus, A.J. and Merton, R.C. (1988), ‘Defined benefit versus defined contribution pension plans: what are the real trade-offs?’, in Bodie, Z., Marcus, A.J. and Merton, R.C. (eds.), Pensions in the US Economy, Chicago: University of Chicago Press, pp. 139–62.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bridgen, P. and Meyer, T. (2005), ‘When do benevolent capitalists change their mind? Explaining the retrenchment of defined-benefit pensions in Britain’, Social Policy and Administration, 39: 764–85.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Conrad, H. (2010), ‘From seniority to performance principle – the evolution of pay practices in Japanese firms since the 1990s’, Social Science Japan Journal, 13: 115–35.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Debroux, P. (2003), Human Resource Management in Japan: Changes and Uncertainties, Hampshire: Ashgate.Google Scholar
Deeg, R. and Jackson, G. (2007), ‘The state of the art – towards a more dynamic theory of capitalist variety’, Socio-Economic Review, 5: 149–79.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dore, R. (2000), Stock Market Capitalism – Welfare Capitalism: Japan and Germany Versus the Anglo-Saxons, Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ebbinghaus, B. and Manow, P. (2001), ‘Introduction: studying varieties of welfare capitalism’, in Ebbinghaus, B. and Manow, P. (eds.), Comparing Welfare Capitalism: Social Policy and Political Economy in Europe, Japan and the USA, London: Routledge, pp. 1–26.Google Scholar
EspingAndersen, G. Andersen, G. (1990), The Three Worlds of Welfare Capitalism, Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Esping-Andersen, G. (1996), ‘Conclusion: occupational welfare in the social policy nexus’, in Shalev, M. (ed.), The Privatization of Social Policy? Occupational Welfare and the Welfare State in America, Scandinavia and Japan, Basingstoke: Macmillan, pp. 327–38.Google Scholar
Esping-Andersen, G. (1997), ‘Hybrid or unique? The Japanese welfare state between Europe and America’, Journal of European Social Policy, 7: 179–89.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Esping-Andersen, G. (1999), Social Foundations of Postindustrial Economies, New York: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Estévez-Abe, M. (2008), Welfare and Capitalism in Postwar Japan, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Estévez-Abe, M., Iversen, T. and Soskice, D. (2001), ‘Social protection and the formation of skills: a reinterpretation of the welfare state’, in Hall, P.A., and Soskice, D. (eds.), Varieties of Capitalism: The Institutional Foundations of Comparative Advantage, Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 145–83.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fukuda, E. (2002), Matushita Denki Sangyō Kabushiki Gaisha – Taishokukin · Nenkin Seido no Kaite ni Tsuite [On the Revision of the Retirement Benefit and Pension System at Matsushita], online at: http://www.ier.hit-u.ac.jp/jprc/soukai2002/fukuda-ppt.pdfGoogle Scholar
Gyōsei Kaikaku Kaigi (1996), Dai-2 Giji Gaiyō [Outline of the Proceedings of the Second Meeting], online at: http://www.kantei.go.jp/jp/gyokaku/index.html, last accessed 8 June 2011.Google Scholar
Hall, P.A. and Soskice, D. (2001), ‘An introduction to varieties of capitalism’, in Hall, P.A. and Soskice, D. (eds.), Varieties of Capitalism: The Institutional Foundations of Comparative Advantage, Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 1–68.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hollingsworth, J.R. and Boyer, R. (1997), Contemporary Capitalism: The Embeddedness of Institutions, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Huber, E. and Stephens, J. (2001), Development and Crisis of the Welfare State, Chicago: Chicago University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Huh, E. and McLellan, , , S. (2007), ‘A tale of two pension reforms: a US–Japan comparison’, Pension Research Council Working Paper 2007-01.Google Scholar
Iversen, T. (2005), Capitalism, Democracy, and Welfare, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Iversen, T. and Soskice, D. (2001), ‘An asset theory of social policy preferences’, American Political Science Review, 95: 875–93.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jackson, G. (2007), ‘Employment adjustment and distributional conflict’, in Aoki, M., Jackson, G. and Miyajima, H. (eds.), Corporate Governance in Japan, Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 282–309.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jackson, G. and Vitols, S. (2001), ‘Between financial commitment, market liquidity and corporate governance’, in Ebbinghaus, B. and Malow, P. (eds.), Comparing Welfare Capitalism, London and New York: Routledge, pp. 171–89.Google Scholar
JILPT (The Japan Institute for Labour Policy and Training) (2008), Japanese Working Life Profile 2008/2009, Tokyo: JILPT.Google Scholar
JILPT (The Japan Institute for Labour Policy and Training) (2009), Labor Situation in Japan and Analysis: Detailed Exposition 2009/2010, Tokyo: JILPT.Google Scholar
Johnson, C. (1995), Japan: Who Governs? The Rise of the Developmental State, New York: Norton.Google Scholar
Keidanren (1996), Tōmei de Jizoku Kanō na Nenkin Seido no Sai-Kōchiku wo Motomeru [Request for the Restructuring of a Transparent and Sustainable Pension System], online at: http://www.keidanren.or.jp/japanese/policy/pol114/pol114.html, last accessed 8 June 2011.Google Scholar
Kigyō Nenkin Kenkyūkai (2007), Kigyō Nenkin Seido no Shikō Jōkyō no Kenshō Kekka – An – Shiryō 1 [Results from a Review into the Enforcement of the Corporate Pension System – Proposal – Material no.1], Tokyo: Kōseirōdōshō, 10 July.Google Scholar
Kigyō Nenkin Kenkyūkai (2008), Tekikaku Taishoku Nenkin no Ikō no Genjō Oyobi Torikumi – Shiryō 2 [The Current Situation of the Transfer of the Tax-Qualified Pension Plans – Material no. 2], Tokyo: Kōseirōdōshō, 21 October.Google Scholar
Kigyō Nenkin Rengōkai (2003), 2008), Kigyō Nenkin ni kan suru Kiso Shiryō [Basic Data about Corporate Pensions], Tokyo: Kigyō Nenkin Rengōkai.Google Scholar
Kōseirōdōshō (2008), Jurō Jōken Sōgō Chōsa [2008 General Survey of Employment Conditions], Tokyo: Kōseirōdōshō.Google Scholar
Kōseirōdōshō Nenkinkyoku (2009), ‘Kigyō Nenkin Seido – Heisei 21-nen 4-gatsu, 13-nichi [The Occupational Pension System 13 April 2009]’, internal document, TokyoGoogle Scholar
Life Design Kenkyūjo (2000), Heisei 12-nenban Kigyō Nenkin Hakusho [Occupational Pension White Paper 2000], Tokyo: Life Design Kenkyūjo.Google Scholar
Logue, D.E. and Rader, J.S. (1998), Managing Pension Plans – A Comprehensive Guide to Improving Plan Performance, Boston: Harvard Business School Press.Google Scholar
Maruyama, A. (1995), ‘Tenshoku Keiken ni yoru Taishokukin Kakusa no Jittai (Differences in retirement benefits depending on job switches)’, Seimei Hoken Keiei, 63: 6, 94–110.Google Scholar
Miyamoto, T. (2008), Fukushi Seiji – Nihon no Seikatsu Hosho to Demokurashi [The Politics of Welfare – Democracy, Employment and Welfare in Japan], Tokyo: Yuhikaku.Google Scholar
Nihon Keizai Shinbun (2008)a, ‘Firms pursue more affordable, sustainable pension schemes’, 20 June.Google Scholar
Nihon Keizai Shinbun (2008)b, ‘Ministry eyes higher tax exemptions for 401(k) contributions’, 14 August.Google Scholar
Nomura Research Institute (2007), ‘Japan's asset management business (summary)’, Lakyara, 28.Google Scholar
NRKS and KNMKN (Nihon Rōdō Kumiai Sōrengōkai and Kinyū Nenkin Mondai Kyōiku Nettowaku) (2008), Taishokukin · Kigyō Nenkin Seido Ikō Taiō Handobukku 2009-nenpan [Handbook for the response to transfers of the lump-sum payment and the occupational pension system], Tokyo: Nihon Rōdō Kumiai Sōrengōkai.Google Scholar
Office for National Statistics (2008), Occupational Pension Schemes Annual Report, Newport: Office for National Statistics.Google Scholar
Pierson, P. (1996), ‘The new politics of the welfare state’, World Politics, 48: 143–79.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rappaport, A.M., Young, M.L., Levell, C.A. and Blalock, B.A. (1997), ‘Cash balance pension plans’, in Gordon, M. S., Mitchell, O. S. and Twinney, M. M. (eds.), Positioning Pensions for the Twenty-First Century, Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, pp. 29–44.Google Scholar
Rhodes, M. (2005), ‘Varieties of capitalism and the political economy of European welfare states’, New Political Economy, 10: 363–70.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sato, M. (2005), ‘2007 problems loom large’, Daily Yomiuri, 30 July.Google Scholar
Schröder, M. (2009), ‘Integrating welfare and production typologies: how refinements of the varieties of capitalism approach call for a combination of welfare typologies’, Journal of Social Policy, 38: 19–43.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shinkawa, T. (2005), ‘The politics of pension reform in Japan: institutional legacies, credit-claiming, and blame avoidance’, in Bonoli, G. and Shinkawa, T. (eds.), Ageing and Pension Reform around the World, Cheltenham: Edward Elgar, pp. 157–81.Google Scholar
Shiniapuran Kaihatsu Kikō (2004), Taishokukin – Kigyō Nenkin Seido Kaikaku no Shinchoku Jōkyō to Kongo no Hōkō ni Kan Suru Chōsa Kenkyū [Research Report on the Progress and Future Direction of Retirement Benefits and Occupational Pensions], Tokyo: Shinapuran Kaihatsu Kikō.Google Scholar
Takegawa, S. (2007) Rentai to Shōnin – Gurōburuka to Kojinka no Naka no Fukushi Kokka [Solidarity and Recognition – the Welfare State in Globalisation and Individualisation], Tokyo: Tōkyō Daigaku Shuppankai.Google Scholar
US Department of Labor (2008), Private Pension Plan Bulletin Historical Tables, online at: http://www.dol.gov/ebsa/pdf/privatepensionplanbulletinhistoricaltables.pdf, last accessed 8 June 2011.Google Scholar
Vogel, S.K. (2006), Japan Remodeled, Ithaca: Cornell University Press.Google Scholar
Watanabe, N. (1998), ‘Occupational pension plans in Japan’, Japan Labor Bulletin, 1 August: 5–14.Google Scholar
Whitely, R. (1999), Divergent Capitalisms – The Social Structuring and Change of Business Systems, Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
World Bank (1994), Averting the Old Age Crisis – Policies to Protect the Old and Promote Growth, New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Yamazaki, Y. (2011), ‘Japan's deregulatory state: the 2001 introduction of the defined contribution pension plan’, Working Paper presented at the workshop Continuity and Discontinuity in Socio-Economic Policies in Japan: From the LDP to the DPJ, University of Sheffield, 4 March 2011.Google Scholar