「労働力不足問題」と非正規雇用

―「二極化」は解消されるか？―

抄録

This paper examines how Japan’s current labor shortage affects non-regular employment and whether the long-standing dualization between regular and non-regular employment is winding down. The analysis reveals four key points. First, companies are struggling to hire regular employees and thus increasingly use non-regular workers as substitutes as they seek high-quality, long-term talent. Second, the core demographic of non-regular workers has shifted from working-age women to older adults. While involuntary non-regular workers have decreased due to an improved youth labor market, poor treatment persists for those remaining in non-regular roles. Third, transitions from non-regular to regular employment are increasing and potentially expanding to women as well as men. However, treatment issues remain alongside the use of diversified regular employees. Fourth, companies using non-regular workers as substitutes tend to have fundamentally low wages for regular employees, which prevents them from hiring regular staff. Although the labor shortage has increased transitions to regular employment and altered how non-regular workers are used—indicating signs of change in the traditional dualized structure—the poor treatment of non-regular workers remains fundamentally unresolved.