Economic development and labour supply in underdeveloped regions : employment of domestic servants in northern Akita prefecture, Japan, 1910-1924

Abstract

Prior to World War II, large parts of Japan were characterized by economic underdevelopment: no industrialization and relatively low agricultural productivity. However, little is known about how such regional backgrounds affected local labour markets in these areas. This paper investigates the transformation of labour supply in northern Akita prefecture, a typical underdeveloped region, by focusing on the employment of domestic servants from the 1910s to the early 1920s. Until the early 1910s, employers of domestic servants in northern Akita prefecture recruited daughters from peasant families as workers without any difficulty; further, the wage level remained stagnant. This suggests that the supply of labour was unlimited, as defined by W. Arthur Lewis. From the late 1910s, however, this region experienced remarkable agricultural growth and saw a rapid increase in rice yield. As a result, it was more profitable for peasant families to have their daughters work on farms rather than to send them to work as domestic servants. Under these circumstances, employers of domestic servants were unable to recruit workers without offering higher wages. This implies that in underdeveloped regions, agricultural development made labour scarce and put an end to the unlimited supply of labour.