2001 Volume 3 Issue 1 Pages 12-19
Traditionally, Japanese labour studies treated the war period (1937-1945) as a “black period” caused by military cliques and they tended to insist on the extraordinary character of measures taken at this time. According to them, it was the post-war reforms which gave birth to present labour institutions (labour organizations, seniority wages and lifetime employment). However, there is a growing literature which, on the contrary, considers that the origin of many present institutions date back to this period when the State had to intervene in labour matters. This paper supports the view of a continuity between war-time changes and post-war reforms.
The paper first draws a bird-eye view of institutional changes from an international perspective. It observes that the period 1935-1950 appears to be a “turning point” in constructing present labour institutions (labour organizations, collective bargaining, workers' participation) in many countries. In the second part, it examines the evolution of wage policies in Japan during the 1937-1945 period. It points out that many of the present Japanese wage and employment practices stem from wage policies of that time, i.e. the concept of living wages, various allowances and harmonization of pay between white collars and blue collars.
The authors contend that a reexamination of this period should be reactivated on the basis of documents free of bias.
