Scholars argue that institutional arrangements shape migrants’ economic integration trajectories, and yet few studies empirically substantiate this. This study identifies employment institutions in Japan that affect skilled foreign workers. We demonstrate that practices ostensibly introduced to benefit these workers are associated with lower pay, after adjusting for human capital and firm characteristics. High levels of gender inequality also severely disadvantage female skilled migrants. These findings demonstrate that in the Japanese case, detrimental employment institutions often cancel out skilled foreign workers’ returns to human capital. The results may explain why Japan has failed to attract and retain more skilled migrants.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
AkashiJ.2009 “Gurobaruka to Hito no Ekkyou: Gaikokujin Koudojinzai to Nihon no Nyuukokukanri [Globalization and Border‐crossing of People: Highly Skilled Migrants and Japanese Immigration Control].” Kokusai Nihon Kenkyu1:1–21.
2.
AkreshI. R.2006 “Occupational Mobility Among Legal Immigrants to the United States.” International Migration Review40(4):854–84.
3.
AlbaR.NeeV.2003Remaking the American Mainstream. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
4.
ArbeitC.WarrenJ. R.2013 “Labor Market Penalties for Foreign Degrees among College Educated Immigrants.” Social Science Research42:852–71.
5.
BatalovaJ.FixM.CreticosP. A.2008Uneven Progress: The Employment Pathways of Skilled Immigrants in the United States. Washington, DC: Migration Policy Institute.
6.
BielbyW. T.2012 “Minority Vulnerability in Privileged Occupations: Why Do African American Financial Advisers Earn Less than Whites in a Large Financial Services Firm?” The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science639:13–32.
7.
BorjasG. J.1999Heaven’s Door: Immigration Policy and the American Economy. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
8.
BrintonM. C.1993Women and the Economic Miracle: Gender and Work in Postwar Japan. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.
9.
CastillaE. J.2008 “Gender, Race, and Meritocracy in Organizational Careers.” American Journal of Sociology113:1479–526.
10.
CastillaE. J.BenardS.2010 “The Paradox of Meritocracy in Organizations.” Administrative Science Quarterly55:543–76.
11.
ChaloffJ.LemaitreG.2009 “Managing Highly‐Skilled Labour Migration: A Comparative Analysis of Migration Policies and Challenges in OECD Countries”. OECD Social, Employment, and Migration Working Papers. Paris: OECD.
12.
ChiswickB.1978 “The Effect of Americanization on the Earnings of Foreign‐born Men.” Journal of Political Economy86:897–921.
13.
ChiswickB. R.LeeY. L.MillerP. W.2005 “A Longitudinal Analysis of Immigrant Occupational Mobility: A Test of the Immigrant Assimilation Hypothesis.” International Migration Review39(2):332–53.
14.
CohenP. N.HuffmanM. L.2007 “Working for the Woman? Female Managers and the Gender Wage Gap.” American Sociological Review72(5):681–704.
15.
DobbinF.2009Inventing Equal Opportunity. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
16.
DoverT. L.MajorB.KaiserC. R.2014 “Diversity Initiatives, Status, and System‐justifying Beliefs: When and how Diversity Efforts De‐legitimize Discrimination Claims.” Group Processes & Intergroup Relations17(4):485–93.
FuessS. M.Jr2003 “Immigration Policy and Highly Skilled Workers: The Case of Japan.” Contemporary Economic Policy21(2):243–57.
19.
HeckR. H.ThomasS. L.2000An Introduction to Multilevel Modeling Techniques. London: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
20.
HöhneJ.KoopmansR.2010 “Host‐Country Cultural Capital and Labour Market Trajectories of Migrants in Germany.” WZB Discussion Paper, No. SP IV 2010‐701. http://hdl.handle.net/10419/49775.
ImaiJ.2011Transformation of Japanese Employment Relations: Reform without Labor. Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan.
23.
JacobyS. M.2005The Embedded Corporation: Corporate Governance and Employment Relations in Japan and the United States. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
24.
Japan Institute for Labor Policy and Training (JILPT)2009 “Nihon Kigyou ni okeru Ryuugakusei no Shuurou ni kansuru Chousa [Survey of Foreign Graduates Employed in Japanese Companies].” http://www.jil.go.jp/institute/research/2009/documents/057.pdf.
25.
Japan Institute for Labor Policy and Training (JILPT)2013 “Ryuugakusei no Shuushoku Katsudou: Genjou to Kadai [Foreign Students’ Job Hunting: Current Situation and Issues].” JILPT Shiryou Series. http://www.jil.go.jp/institute/siryo/2013/documents/0113.pdf.
KaiserC. R.MajorB.JurcevicI.DoverT. L.BradyL. M.ShapiroJ. R.2013 “Presumed Fair: Ironic Effects of Organizational Diversity Structures.” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology104(3):504–19.
28.
KalevA.DobbinF.KellyE.2006 “Best Practices or Best Guesses? Assessing the Efficacy of Corporate Affirmative Action and Diversity Policies.” American Sociological Review71:589–617.
29.
KanterR. M.1977Men and Women of the Corporation. New York, NY: Basic Books.
30.
KaushalN.2011 “Earning Trajectories of Highly Educated Immigrants: Does Place of Education Matter?” Industrial and Labor Relations Review64(2):323–40.
31.
KoganI.2006 “Labor Markets and Economic Incorporation among Recent Immigrants in Europe.” Social Forces85(2):697–722.
32.
KurtulusF. A.Tomaskovic‐DeveyD.2012 “Do Women Managers Help Women Advance? A Panel Study Using EEO‐1 Records.” The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science639:173–97.
33.
Lewin‐EpsteinN.SemyonovM.KoganI.WannerR. A.2003 “Institutional Structure and Immigrant Integration: A Comparative Study of Immigrants’ Labor Market Attainment in Israel and Canada.” International Migration Review37(2):389–420.
34.
Liu‐FarrerG.2009 “Educationally Channeled International Labor Mobility: Contemporary Student Migration from China to Japan.” International Migration Review43(1):178–204.
35.
Liu‐FarrerG.2011 “Making Careers in the Occupational Niche: Chinese Students in Corporate Japan’s Transnational Business.” Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies37(5):785–803.
36.
LubotskyD.2007 “Chutes or Ladders? A Longitudinal Analysis of Immigrant Earnings.” Journal of Political Economy115(5):820–67.
37.
MaumeD. J.2011 “Meet the New Boss…Same as the Old Boss? Female Supervisors and Subordinate Career Prospects.” Social Science Research40(1):287–98.
38.
MaumeD. J.2012 “Minorities in Management: Effects on Income Inequality, Working Conditions, and Subordinate Career Prospects among Men.” The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science639:198–216.
39.
Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry2013 “Dai1 Hyou Kigyou Sangyou (Chuubunrui), Kigyou Jouyou Koyousha Kibo (11 Kubun), Tanitsu Fukusuu (2 Kubun), Shihonkin Kaikyuu (10 Kubun) betsu Kaisha Kigyousuu, Jigyoushosuu, Danjo betsu Juugyoushasuu oyobi Jouyou Koyoushasuu Zenkoku, Todoufuken” [Table 1: Companies, Establishments, and Persons Engaged and Regular Employees by Sex, by Industry Major Groups, Size of Regular Employees (11 Groups), Single or Multi‐Unit Enterprises (2 Groups), and Capital Size (10 Groups), for Japan and Prefectures].” http://www.e-stat.go.jp/SG1/estat/List.do?bid=000001049899&cycode=0.
40.
Ministry of Justice1984–2014Zairyu Gaikokujin Tokei [Statistics on Foreign Residents in Japan]. Tokyo: Ministry of Justice.
MitaniN.2010 “Nenko Chingin, Seikashugi, Chingin Kouzou [Seniority Wages, Merit Pay, Wage Structures].” In Roudou Shijo to Shotoku Bunpai, edited by HiguchiY., 227–52. Tokyo: Keio Gijuku Daigaku Shuppankai.
45.
MunE.2010 “Sex Typing of Jobs in Hiring: Evidence from Japan.” Social Forces88(5):1999–2026.
46.
NakajimaT.MatsushigeT.UmezakiO.2004 “Chingin to Satei ni Mirareru Seikashugi Dounyuu no Kouka: Kigyounai Maikurodeeta ni yoru Bunseki [Effects of Introduction of Merit Pay on Wages and Evaluations: Analysis of Within‐Firm Microdata].” Nihon Keizai Kenkyu48:18–33.
47.
NeeV.HolbrowH.2013 “Why Asian Americans Are Becoming Mainstream.” Daedalus142(3):65–75.
OishiN.2012 “The Limits of Immigration Policies: Highly‐Skilled Migration in Japan.” American Behavioral Scientist56:1080–100.
50.
OrreniusP. M.ZavodnyM.2007 “Does Immigration Affect Wages? A Look at Occupation‐level Evidence.” Labour Economics14(5):757–73.
51.
PortesA.RumbautR.2001Legacies: The Story of the Immigrant Second Generation. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.
52.
RegetsM.2007Research Issues in the International Migration of Highly Skilled Workers: A Perspective with Data from the United States. National Science Foundation Working Paper SRS 07‐203. Washington, DC: National Science Foundation.
53.
ReitzJ. G.1998Warmth of the Welcome: The Social Causes of Economic Success for Immigrants in Different Nations and Cities. Boulder, CO: Westview Press.
54.
ReitzJ. G.2012 “The Distinctiveness of Canadian Immigration Experience.” Patterns of Prejudice46(5):518–38.
55.
Roumu Gyousei Kenkyuujo2004 “Jinji Roumu Kanri Seido no Jisshi Joukyou [State of Implementation of Human Resources Management].” Rouseijihou3628:2–65.
56.
ShacharA.2013 “Talent Matters: Immigration Policy‐Setting as a Competitive Scramble Among Jurisdictions.” In Wanted and Welcome? Policies for Highly Skilled Immigrants in Comparative Perspective, edited by TriadafilopoulosT., 85–104. New York, NY: Springer Books.
57.
SkrentnyJ. D.2014After Civil Rights: Racial Realism in the American Workplace. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
58.
StainbackK.Tomaskovic‐DeveyD.SkaggsS.2010 “Organizational Approaches to Inequality: Inertia, Relative Power, and Environments.” Annual Review of Sociology36:225–47.
59.
TakenakaA.IshidaK.NakamuroM.2015 “Negative Assimilation: How Immigrants Experience Mobility in Japan.” International Migration Review50(2):506–33. doi:10.1111/imre.12129.
60.
TörngrenS. O.HolbrowH. J.2017 “Comparing the Experiences of High‐Skilled Labor Migrants in Sweden and Japan: Barriers and Doors to Long‐term Settlement.” International Journal of Japanese Sociology, Forthcoming.
61.
TsukasakiY.2008Gaikokujin Senmonshoku Gijutsushoku no Koyoumondai: Shokugyou Kyaria no Shitenkara [Employment problems of professional and technical foreign workers: from the perspective of occupations and careers]. Tokyo: Akashi Shoten.
Supplementary Material
Please find the following supplemental material available below.
For Open Access articles published under a Creative Commons License, all supplemental material carries the same license as the article it is associated with.
For non-Open Access articles published, all supplemental material carries a non-exclusive license, and permission requests for re-use of supplemental material or any part of supplemental material shall be sent directly to the copyright owner as specified in the copyright notice associated with the article.
