TY - JOUR
T1 - Job tasks and wages in the Japanese labor market
T2 - Evidence from wage functions
AU - Kobayashi, Toru
AU - Yamamoto, Isamu
N1 - Funding Information:
This study was conducted as part of the “Research on the task models to cooperate with the human and new technology: Evaluating the impacts on labor market” project undertaken at the Research Institute of Science and Technology or Society (RISTEX), Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST). This study utilizes the micro data from the “Basic Survey on Wage Structure” conducted by the Ministry of Health, Labour, and Welfare. This research was also supported by a Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C) no.18K0165 (Yamamoto) from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology. We sincerely thank the anonymous referees for reading the paper carefully and providing thoughtful comments.
Funding Information:
This study was conducted as part of the “Research on the task models to cooperate with the human and new technology: Evaluating the impacts on labor market” project undertaken at the Research Institute of Science and Technology or Society (RISTEX), Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST). This study utilizes the micro data from the “Basic Survey on Wage Structure” conducted by the Ministry of Health, Labour, and Welfare. This research was also supported by a Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C) no. 18K0165 (Yamamoto) from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology . We sincerely thank the anonymous referees for reading the paper carefully and providing thoughtful comments.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2020 The Authors
PY - 2020/12
Y1 - 2020/12
N2 - Based on the microdata from the Basic Survey on Wage Structure and the original survey, we estimate the Mincerian wage function, incorporating job tasks, to examine the importance of job task wage premiums as well as long-term changes in the Japanese labor market. In the estimation, we found that the association between abstract tasks and wages is positive and that a one standard deviation increase in the abstract task scores was associated with a 21.2% wage premium, while that of routine and manual task wage premiums are negative. We also found that the total explanatory power of three task scores (routine, abstract, and manual tasks) is higher than that of the education dummies or the major occupation group dummies. We also confirmed two testable implications from the Roy model regarding the workers’ self-selection into occupations in the Japanese labor market. These findings are similar to those obtained by Autor and Handel (2013). On the other hand, we found no major changes between 2005 and 2016 in the coefficients of routine, abstract, or manual task scores as well as their explanatory powers in the wage function. We then observed that demand for labor increased in many occupations involving many non-routine or manual tasks, but at the same time, the supply of labor to those occupations also increased. Therefore, we discussed that the change in labor demand and supply may be one of the reasons for the stable relationship between job tasks and wages.
AB - Based on the microdata from the Basic Survey on Wage Structure and the original survey, we estimate the Mincerian wage function, incorporating job tasks, to examine the importance of job task wage premiums as well as long-term changes in the Japanese labor market. In the estimation, we found that the association between abstract tasks and wages is positive and that a one standard deviation increase in the abstract task scores was associated with a 21.2% wage premium, while that of routine and manual task wage premiums are negative. We also found that the total explanatory power of three task scores (routine, abstract, and manual tasks) is higher than that of the education dummies or the major occupation group dummies. We also confirmed two testable implications from the Roy model regarding the workers’ self-selection into occupations in the Japanese labor market. These findings are similar to those obtained by Autor and Handel (2013). On the other hand, we found no major changes between 2005 and 2016 in the coefficients of routine, abstract, or manual task scores as well as their explanatory powers in the wage function. We then observed that demand for labor increased in many occupations involving many non-routine or manual tasks, but at the same time, the supply of labor to those occupations also increased. Therefore, we discussed that the change in labor demand and supply may be one of the reasons for the stable relationship between job tasks and wages.
KW - Job task
KW - ROY model
KW - Self-selection
KW - Technological change
KW - Wage function
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U2 - 10.1016/j.jjie.2020.101110
DO - 10.1016/j.jjie.2020.101110
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85094574049
SN - 0889-1583
VL - 58
JO - Journal of the Japanese and International Economies
JF - Journal of the Japanese and International Economies
M1 - 101110
ER -