A Study On The Labor Shortage Issue Of Japanese Economic Development After World War ?

Japan has suffered from labor shortage,to some extent,in both of the periods of rapid economic growth and economic stagnation,in the economic development after World War II.Labor force acts as not only the main source of supply in economic development,but the major undertaker of demand as well.Consequently,labor force and economic development are interactive and they function as the cause and effect to each other.There is no so-called labor shortage without economic development,the latter is the main cause for the former,and the former influences the latter to some degree.The reduction of labor supply has become an inescapable fact,with the decrease of the working-age population and the total population of Japan.In this situation,if labor demand increases slightly,labor shortage willdeteriorate.With the further development of economy,the problem of labor shortage will exasperate.Thus Japan is actively exploring and seeking better measures to deal withlabor shortage.This dissertation focuses on the following three issues: the causes of labor shortage,the influence of labor shortage uponeconomic development,and the measures against labor shortage in various periods of Japanese economic development.It is necessary to involve labor shortage into economic development to address the above issues.The relevanttheories ofdevelopment economics,population economics,and labor economics lay a sound theoretical foundation for the research of this dissertation.The labor shortage in the economic development of Japan is mainly measured by the two forms of the effective requirement rate of talent.The first form is thatthe effective requirement rate of talent is more than one times.The second one isthat the effective requirement rate of talent is less than one times,but increases consecutivelyfor four years,and is close to one times infinitely.Based on the actual situation of labor shortage in the economic development of Japan,it is found that labor shortage takes place mainly in three periods:the rapid economic growth period(1955-1973),the bubble economy period(1987-1991),and the long-term economic downturn period(1991-present).The causes of labor shortage in different economic development periods display not only common characteristics but also specific characteristics.Therefore,the analysis of the causes of labor shortage should be connected with economic development,based on labor supply and labor demand.Labor supply is affected chiefly by population size,structure and the rate of labor force participation,while labor demand is affected largely by economic development.Firstly,in the period of rapid economic growth,the working-age population has increased,but the labor force participation rate is low.With the rapid development of economy,the demand of labor force is extremely enormous and labor shortage occurs.Secondly,in the period of the bubble economy,the population grows slowly,the aging of the population accelerates,the economic development model shifts to domestic-demand-oriented,the continual development of macro economy leads to the increase of labor demand,and labor shortage comes.Finally,in the long period of economic downturn,theactual reduction in the working-age population and the total population leads Japan to a society of population shrinking,and actually labor supply is decreasing.Accordingly,the labor shortage in this periodresults from really the reduction in the working-age population and the total population.Moreover,the gradual improvement of the economy stimulates the demand for labor,and labor shortageaggravates under “the dual pressure”.Labor shortage not just comes into being from the process of economic development,but also exerts a certain impact on economic development.Economic development is a concept involving“quantity” and “quality”,which includes both economic growth and economic structure.The influence of labor shortage on economic growth variesfrom different periods.As economic growth is a concept concerning“quantity”,and thus quantitative analysis,namely growth accounting model will be adopted in the study.Economic growth involves the three factorspertinent to labor shortage: productivity of labor,labor force participation rate,and the proportion of working-age population.The influence of labor shortage on economic growth will be examined by calculating the contribution of the above three factors to economic growth.In the period of rapid economic growth,the impact of labor shortage on economic growth mainly results from the low participation rate of labor force,which plays a negative role in economic growth.However,due to the higher proportion of the working-age population and the improvementof labor productivity,labor shortage has not impeded the rapid growth of the economy.In the period of the bubble economy,although labor shortage appears,it does not affect economic growth.The negative impact of labor shortage on economic growth aggravates,during the long period of economic downturn.Compared with economic growth,economic structure is a process of qualitative change,and thus qualitative analysis,namely,the theory of labor migration will be used to discussthe influence of labor shortage on economic structure.In the first two periods,the positive and negative effects coexist,and the negative influence dominates in the latter period.In the period of rapid economic growth,the negative impact of labor shortage on economic structure is primarily manifested by the deteriorating unbalanced development of regional structure.The positive influence is largely to improve the industrial structure and employment structure,and accelerate the process of urbanization.As bubble economy lasts for a relatively short time,the impact of labor shortage on economic structure mainly comprises the continuation and deepening of regional structure,industry and employment structure,which specifically includes the formation of regional structure of “Tokyo single polarization”,and resulting in the “softening” characteristics of employment structure.During the long period of economic downturn,the impact of labor shortage on economic structure is mostly negative,which includes weakeningeconomic and social structure,widening regional structure differences between metropolitan and local areas,exacerbating the imbalance in the supply and demand of employment structure,and deteriorating the financial revenue and expenditure structure.Japan has been exploring measures to cope with labor shortage and theabove influence of labor shortage on economic development.A series of measures are adopted to reduce labor demand and increase labor supply.The reduction of labor demand is chiefly achieved through the advancement of technology and labor productivity.Increase in labor supply is primarily achieved through augmenting the labor force participation rate,and fully employing the potential labor force.The period of rapid economic growth serves as the phasefor Japanto explore measures to deal with labor shortage.Those measures taken in this period mainly include attachingimportance to vocational education and promoting the quality of labor force,improving the employment system of enterprises,and encouragingsenior workers to extend the time of social work.In the period of bubble economy,measures are implemented to further develop science and technology,attach importance to introduce and develop talents,value female labor force,extend the working life of the senior labor force,and adopt flexible management system.During the long period of economic downturn,measures implemented to tacklelabor shortageand its influence on economic development involve developing high technology,encouraging female employment,increasing the employment of the aged and supporting their business starting.In addition,foreign labor force is introduced,and the employment of the disabled is promoted.These series of measures alleviate the labor shortage under that circumstance.As aging population with fewer childrenaggravates,and the total population and the working-age population go down,no perfect measures can fully reverse the impact of labor shortage on economic development.At present,China starts to suffer from labor shortage in her economic development.If we compare the labor shortage in Japan's economic development with that in China,and identify the similarities and differences between China and Japan on this issue,we will obtain someconstructive and helpful inspiration and reference to cope with the issue of labor shortage.In the process of economic development,we can tackle labor shortage by transforming the extensive economic mode into intensive one,pushing forward urbanization and deepening the reform of household registration system to make full use of the rich rural labor resources,improving the salary and benefits of the labor force to stimulate the enthusiasm for work,further developing science and technology,and not only enlarging the quantity of labor,but promoting the quality of labor force as well.