Job Security and Work Force Adjustment: How Different are U.S. and Japanese Practices? / Katharine G. Abraham, Susan N. Houseman.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Abraham, Katharine G.

Contributor:

National Bureau of Economic Research.

Houseman, Susan N.

Series:

Working Paper Series (National Bureau of Economic Research) no. w3155.

NBER working paper series no. w3155

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Employment stabilization.

Physical Description:

1 online resource: illustrations (black and white);

Other Title:

Job Security and Work Force Adjustment

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, Mass. National Bureau of Economic Research 1989.

Cambridge, Massachusetts : National Bureau of Economic Research, 1989.

Summary:

This paper compares employment and hours adjustment in Japanese and U.S. manufacturing. In contrast to some previous work, we find that adjustment of total labor input to demand changes is significantly greater in the United States than in Japan; adjustment of employment is significantly greater in the United States, while that of average hours is about the same in the two countries. Although workers in Japan enjoy greater employment stability than do U.S. workers, we find considerable variability in the adjustment patterns across groups within each country. In the United States, most of the adjustment is borne by production workers. In Japan, female workers, in particular, bear a disproportionate share of adjustment.

Notes:

Print version record

November 1989.