This study examines the dual structure of wage formation in regular and non-regular employment
sectors in Japan. By using data from a series of surveys conducted in the metropolitan area during
2002–2014, sectoral-wage determination and sector-separation mechanism are estimated simultaneously.
The estimated results reveal several facts in the new era of the Japanese dual labor market. While the
regular workers’ wages rise with years of tenure and external experience, only the latter affects non-regular
workers’ wages. The wage increases owing to experience are of similar magnitude between employment
statuses except for female regular workers, and the firm-size and educational-background premiums exist
only in the regular employees’ wages. The study also shows that the slopes of regular workers’ wage-tenure
profiles have been stable over more than 10 years since the early 2000s.