日本における石油危機と雇用調整: 昭和電工、1978-1983

The Oil Crisis and the Employment Adjustment in Japan: A Case Study of Showadenko, 1978-1983

Purpose: This article reveals the reality that the lifetime employment system in Japan is separated from the illusion that it is an employment guarantee system. Research design, data, and methodology: Japan’s employment security system, the lifetime employment system, began to show signs of this during the Showa Depression, was established as a system during the reconstruction period and stabilized during the oil crisis. Although the lifetime employment system is known as a Japanese practice of stabilizing employment, a study has revealed that, like other countries, the number of people in the red continues to decrease. Results: According to a survey of the Showadennko(Showa Electricity) during the oil crisis, even in the early 1980s, management maintained the goal of how many people were excluded from employment and the right to set standards for who was excluded from employment. Implications: It is time to reconsider the previous claim that the employment adjustment method, which avoids appointment and dismissal, was established in the 1970s instead of giving up the right to negotiate.