Economic Growth, the Labour Market and Attraction of Foreign Workers

Abstract

In the early 1960s many European countries launched foreign labour schemes through bilateral agreements with Mediterranean labour-surplus countries, to fill the huge number of vacancies that occurred due to favourable economic growth. In Japan the 1960s were also a period of tight labour markets under conditions of high economic growth. Interestingly, Japan distinguished itself from many European labour-importing countries by achieving economic growth without attracting foreign workers. It was not in the 1960s but in the 1980s that Japan’s economy became dependent upon foreign workers.

This chapter contains information presented in my paper titled ‘Structural Changes in Japan’s Labor Market and Its Attraction of Foreign Migrant Workers’ appeared in Journal of International Economic Studies, the In­stitute of Comparative Economic Studies, Hosei University, Tokyo, No. 9, 1995.