Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
  1. Home
  2. Search

Refine search

Refine search

Access:
Content type:
Publication date:
Apply   From and To filters
Subject: Show more
Journals Show more
Publishers: Show more
Societies Show more
Series: Show more
Collections: Show more

Actions for selected content:

Select all | Deselect all
  • View selected items
  • Export citations
  • Download PDF (zip)
  • Save to Kindle
  • Save to Dropbox
  • Save to Google Drive

Save Search

You can save your searches here and later view and run them again in "My saved searches".

Please provide a title, maximum of 40 characters.
Cancel
×

1 results

  • 10 - Abe’s Slight Left Turn

  • from Part IV - Third Arrow of Abenomics
  • Edited by Takeo Hoshi, University of Tokyo, Phillip Y. Lipscy, University of Toronto
  • Book:
    The Political Economy of the Abe Government and Abenomics Reforms
    Published online:
    05 February 2021
    Print publication:
    25 February 2021, pp 271-309

  • 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.