Wage distribution has been nearly stable in Japan for the last two decades, contrary to findings in the US, Canada, and the UK. The change in wage distribution during this period was almost completely caused by a distributional change in worker attributes. This implies that skill prices were...

In this paper, we empirically examine the impact of the large increase in regional minimum wages in Japan following the revision of the Minimum Wage Law in 2007. The estimation results show that while the minimum wage hike increased the lower level wages among teenagers, it also decreased their...

The fraction of contingent workers among all workers in Japan increased from 17% in 1986 to some 34% in 2008. This paper investigates the reason for this secular trend. Both demand and supply increases of contingent workers relative to regular workers are important, as evidenced by the stable...

The fraction of contingent workers among all workers in Japan increased from 17% in 1986 to some 34% in 2008. This paper investigates the reason for this secular trend. Both demand and supply increases of contingent workers relative to regular workers are important, as evidenced by the stable...

This paper points to several caveats in an estimation of the Mincer wage equation using Japanese data. An estimation of the Mincer wage equation using microdata of the <i>Basic Survey of Wage Structure</i> 2005-2008 reveals following six points as caveats.<ol><li>Wage profile is discontinuous at age 60 because...</li></ol>

The employer learning model postulates that employers form employees' prior ability distribution from educational credentials and update its distribution by observing workers' performance on the job. This paper estimates the employer learning model for university-graduate white-collar workers...