The objectives of this article are 1) to investigate the roles of international labor migration under the regional economic integration regime in an era of fertility decline, 2) to explore determinants of labor migration, and 3) to formulate a reform agenda for labor migration policy. The main findings are a) in regions suffering depopulation, migrant labor may mitigate mismatches in the local labor markets without negative effects on wages, b) in regions of industrial agglomeration, downward effects on wages as a result of migrant labor supply may be limited by active inflows of capital and the highly skilled, and c) status adjustment to permanent residence can play important roles in the regional economic integration. Based upon such findings, the author argues 1) migration policy should be targeted at the reduction of labor mismatches without negative effects on wages, 2) status adjustment is important in promoting migration of highly skilled workers, 3) the management of middle and low skilled migrant labor is of growing importance, 4) forming linkages between labor immigration policy and integration policy is urgent and essential.

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All developed countries are facing the problems of declining birthrates and growing proportions of elderly people. They are now confronted with labor shortages as well. Accepting migrant workers into the labor market has been the most popular and effective remedy. The rate of aging of the Japanese population is already the highest in the world. Nevertheless, the Japanese government still does not regularly permit migrant workers to seek employment. On the other hand, the conditions of migrant workers in housekeeping and caregiving have been strongly affected by the activities of the employment placement agencies in the global labor market. These activities include decades of grievous rights infringements as human trafficking has expanded. Recently some Asian countries have established economic communities, the most important example being ASEAN. One of the main functions of ASEAN has been establishing policies for migrant labor. Bearing in mind the needs of the Japanese labor market for additional labor, this report focuses on the effect of the movement of migrant workers in housekeeping and care work, and offers a concrete discussion about policies that need to be implemented.

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This session focuses on the present situation of labor and vocational education in Japan. Each of our three chosen young specialists engaging in this problem area will give a presentation concerning this matter. In the following discussions we will consider how we should revise our inadequate labor and vocational education system, which has prevented many young people from gaining a clear understanding about their future work lives. As the first presenter, Mr. Isa, a specialist on labor economics, will report on the present state of university labor economic education in Japan. Next Mr. Mizuno, a labor and social insurance attorney, will report on labor and vocational training activities conducted by his professional association in Aichi Prefecture, and discuss future issues regarding labor education. Finally, Mr. Isohata, a researcher examining HR practices in France, will discuss current practice in Japan based on insights from his field research on French vocational education.

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Recently, many issues pertaining to labor and economic education have gained public attention. A major concern regards the institutionalization of academic disciplines at universities, and the use of textbooks, one of the main means through institutionalization is promoted. But in Japan, surprisingly, there have so far been few studies about textbooks for undergraduate education in the area of (labor) economics. Therefore, the main purpose of this paper is to explore the past and present of labor economic education in Japan through a survey of textbooks, and to provide some implications for the future. Specifically, we firstly confirm the development of the textbooks of labor economy, and background factors regarding this development. Secondly, we survey the labor economy textbooks published in postwar Japan. Quantitatively, we confirm the numerical attributes of the textbooks, such as number of pages/chapters/revisions, publishers, publication years, and attributes of authors. Furthermore, we identify the types of textbooks (neoclassical, institutional and eclectic) and fluctuations in shares over time. Qualitatively, focusing on major textbooks, we compare them through title-topic cross tabulation and point out several observable tendencies and problems, such as decreases in industrial relations topics, legal/policy issue topics and definition of basic categories, reduced emphasis on macroeconomic issues and disproportionately heavier emphasis on microeconomic issues.

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Because of mistreatment of young workers in so-called "black companies" as well as possible cuts in public pension plans in the near future, anxiety concerning the work lives of young Japanese has grown recently. To cope with this situation the Aichi Labor and Social Security Attorney Association (ALSSAA) has given lectures on labor and social insurance to high school students in Aichi Prefecture with a view to giving them a chance to think about their future work lives. But it has been not easy for practitioners of ALSSAA to explain to schools the significance of labor education and to persuade them to introduce such courses. Indeed, only a few schools in Aichi Prefecture have so far introduced such courses, and they have allowed only limited content and very limited school time for this purpose. But today young Japanese have very little opportunity to learn in workplaces what it is like to work or how they should work. So the importance of labor education in schools prior to finding employment is growing more and more important. To attract public attention to this matter I will report on the reality and the problems of the labor education carried out by the ALSSAA while discussing possibilities for improving labor education in the future.

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Essentially introduced by the Astier Law of 1919, the French vocational education system has been developing in its own unique way in its nearly 100-year-long history. An important point came with the establishment of the continuous lifelong vocational education system, achieved through an agreement among government, labor and management in the 1970s. Also, two higher education reforms in 1968 and 1974 promoted vocational or technical curricula in the institutions of higher education, the main actors in continuous vocational education. At present, alternating training is in great vogue, combining teaching of theory in classrooms with the practical training in workplaces, and improving the employability of young people. In this presentation, I will explain the unique characteristics of French vocational education, based on its history and current state. Then, in making comparisons with Japanese vocational education, I will discuss implications for the future.

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From the early 1990s, Japanese companies began to introduce performance-based systems into their workplace. These aimed to encourage changes in the seniority wage system and advance labor market reform. However, there has been growing criticism of performance-based systems, and they have not been always successful. For example, as typified by the Japanese annual-salary system, the performance-based personnel and pay systems have had to be modified. In recent years, some Japanese companies have tended to introduce pay systems based on employees' responsibilities and roles. This paper will review the previous works on Japanese performance-based systems and will make a number of suggestions for further research on personnel and pay systems in Japanese companies.

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The purpose of this paper is to show how young people who use youth support that provides "ibasho (a place where one feels at home)" view this support, and to consider how "ibasho" support can contribute to social participation by youths. Recently, attention has been given to means of support that provide "ibasho" (in short, "ibasho" support) for school non-attendees or youths in a state of social withdrawal. However, little is known about what youths expect by way of support, how they use it, and how they participate in society through "ibasho" support. In this study, we use the notion of "Legitimate of Peripheral Participation" to study the relation between participation in "ibasho" and social participation. The following results are pointed out. Because youths in a state of social withdrawal are marginalized from society, it is difficult for them to participate in "ibasho." The sense of "reception and sympathy" that has been expected from "ibasho" conventionally is effective for their "peripheral" participation. After peripheral participation in "ibasho," users of "ibasho" support are set to have problems solved through it. Then, after having achieved their aim, they get "peripherality" for the society.

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This study examines production in the machine industry and analyzes skill formation in the workplace by emphasizing "process design capabilities." First, this study confirms that standard production technicians become capable of using multiple machines after approximately 10 years of continuous work. However, if the focus is placed only on the skills associated with using machines, growth stops or degenerates after approximately 15 years of continuous work. Beyond this, the skills required are not those associated with using machines, but with designing processes. However, there exist fewer production technicians who master these skills. Designing new processes yields low-skilled routine work and offers work to workers whose skills have degenerated, or to non-regular workers. In other words, processes are designed in accordance with the existing distribution of skills and thus create a mutual correlation between skill distribution and process design. Viewed in the long-term, an increase in low-skilled routine work hinders the development of process design capabilities; hence, corporates disregard non-routine, difficult work for skill formation.

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