Wage Rates and Tenders Based on Policy Goals

: Two Approaches Adopted by Municipal Governments

Abstract

Municipal governments in Japan have been using social policy standards as a tool in making public contracts for at least a decade. For example, some public contract ordinances have clauses on wage rates for workers under contract ; these mostly regard construction and civil engineering jobs. On the other hand, some standards concerning disabilities or job creation are adopted in competitive tendering for contracting out services. But fewer municipalities presently have the latter than the former type of ordinance, even though the two types of measures appear to complement each other effectively. This presentation will examine the range of wage rate and employment opportunities among several sectors, showing how these bring about different municipal policies.