In Japan, subcontract factories have been decentralized in mountain villages during the rapid economic growth period. As a result, it came to produce new labor demands, and the local labor market has shown a kind of hierarchical structure. One is the “first type” labor market by which new graduates are chiefly targeted, and the other is the “second type” which absorbs the middle and advanced age that lives in the mountain villages. Workers who belong to the former can be applied the seniority wage and the lifelong employment system, and acquire the income equivalent to urban workers. On the other hand, the latter exploit the unstable day laborers, who can be paid no more than the minimum wage. Such gaps in income level and employment status have impeded the autonomous development of mountain villages.
Until now, many studies have been accumulated about this hierarchical structure of the local labor market. Many of them focused on the elucidation of a depopulation mechanism. However, investigations are comparatively few on the separated mountain villages, in which manufacturing industries are not located yet. Thus, the author chose the Nakatsugawa hamlet as a field, which is a typical “Forestry-based village” in the Chichibu area. And the following points were clarified as the result of my research in 1989.
Firstly, it is remarkable that labor demand and supply are mostly closed in the village. This characteristic is still maintained by the isolated location and low settling (U-turn) rate of the young. And that promotes further population outflow.
According to the gaps of income level and working conditions, the author can divide the employment structure of this hamlet into three classes. The first class workers can receive average wages in the Chichibu area, the second class can receive lower daily wages and the third class consist of the temporarily employed housewives receiving the lowest wages. Moreover, the first class is also higher than the other in terms of employment status.
This is a commontende ncy in Japanese mountain villages. However, such a hierarchy does not so much reflect the academic background and the age in this hamlet, where new graduates seldom settle. The author can admit a regional trait in terms of job selection during the 1960-70's. Until the 1960's, it was the subcontract workers employed by the forestry office or the Chichibu Mine who get the highest wage in this hamlet. status and treat- remained as regular workers have consequently secured relatively high change to keep ment. On the other hand, who repeated temporal labor migration or job Among them, who their income level have been obliged unstable status as “implicitly contracted day laborer”
It is still difficult to commute out of the village from this hamlet. Therefore, labor market of the “first type” is hardly formed. Though, it has turned out a kind of hierarchy appeared to the wage level and working conditions. This was so because central capitalists, who had entered there, enclosed the excellent workforce during 1960-70's.
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