Discussion Paper Series

University of Tokyo

Institute of Social Science
Panel Survey
東京大学社会科学研究所 パネル調査プロジェクト
ディスカッションペーパーシリーズ

Training and the Labor Market:
A Comparison between Taiwan and Japan

Wataru Nakazawa（Graduate School of Human Sciences, Osaka University）

August 2014
No.82
東京大学社会科学研究所
INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL SCIENCE UNIVERSITY OF TOKYOInstitute of Social Sciences
University of Tokyo
Panel Survey Project Discussion Paper Series No.82
August, 2014

Training and the Labor Market: A Comparison between Taiwan and Japan
Wataru Nakazawa(Graduate School of Human Sciences, Osaka University)
This paper examines the relation between educational systems and labor markets inJapan and Taiwan, from the viewpoint of workplace retention rates. Although Japanand Taiwan have similar educational systems, the relative proportion of students
attending vocational high schools is greater in Taiwan than in Japan. The strong
school-to-work transition system in Japan presupposes the existence of an internal
labor market. Generally, the internal labor market is comprised of large companies,
which enable their employees to be educated through on-the-job training. On the other
hand, the Taiwanese labor market consists mostly of small family companies, and theycannot afford to train their employees by themselves. Thus, while worker retention
rates are generally higher in Japan than in Taiwan, professionals and blue-collar
workers in Taiwan are less likely to leave their workplaces to take advantage ofvocation specific education. In addition, because Japan’s internal labor market has
traditionally been applicable only to men, differences between retention rates for
women in Japan and Taiwan are not clear.
Acknowledgement
This research was supported by Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (S) (number
18103003 and 22223005) and (C) (24531078) from the Japan Society for the
Promotion of Science (JSPS). The research support in conducting the panel surveys
from the Institute of Social Science, University of Tokyo and the Outsourcing
Company is gratefully acknowledged. The permission to use the panel data is obtained
from the Research Planning Committee of the Japanese Life Course Panel Surveys.
And I was also permitted to use the Social Stratification and Mobility (SSM) -Taiwan
2005 data by the SSM 2005 Committee.

1. Introduction
Education is regarded as an important factor in the economic growth anddevelopment of globalized societies. Many countries have realized that education
nurtures talent and produces skilled and effective workers. As a result, a significant
focus is being given to the relationship between education and the labor market. This
paper examines this connection in the context of Japan and Taiwan.
Japan and Taiwan are located close to each other, and the two societies sharesimilar cultural backgrounds and education systems. The education system in bothcountries was introduced after World War II, on the lines of the system in the UnitedStates, consisting of 6-year elementary schools, 3-year junior high schools, 3-year
senior high schools, and 4-year universities (6-3-3-4 system). Considering the similarsystems, the relationship between schools and the labor market in Japan and Taiwan
would be expected to have a lot in common. However, there are wide differences in thelabor markets of the two countries, as well as dissimilarities in the education systems
despite the apparent likeness. In a comparative study, it is convenient for researchers tofocus on the impact of institutions on people’s choices and activities, because theoverall impact of different institutions can be assessed by controlling the framework of
the education systems. In this paper, I will examine the influence of vocational
specificity and the dual tracking system at the secondary school level on job careers bycomparing two similar East Asian societies, Japan and Taiwan.
Although the education system can influence the structure of the labor market,
conversely, it can be adapted to the demand of the labor market. Though two different
industrial structures originally existed in the countries, but the education systems
introduced were similar. Minor changes were made to adapt the systems to eachsociety without completely destroying the framework of the education structures. Thus,
the education systems and labor markets have a complementary relationship with eachother (Allmendinger, 1989; Kerckhoff, 2001).
Before making an analysis, I will review the education systems and the labormarkets in Japan and Taiwan, and discuss the relevant existing studies. I will suggest
hypotheses on the degree of stratification and vocational specificity in the education
systems. Finally, I will show and interpret the results of event history analysis, andexamine the limitations, and suggest further studies for the future.

-1-2. Background2-1. Comparison between Japan and Taiwan
East Asian countries such as Japan, Taiwan, and South Korea, were influenced
by the transitions of Confucianism or Buddhism. These countries also achieved
extraordinary economic growth after the end of World War II, being largely fueled byexports of industrial products (Hamilton and Biggart, 1988). Before the war, Japan hadcolonized Taiwan and the government had introduced an education system similar tothat in Japan. After the war ended, the Taiwanese government adopted the American
6-3-3-4 system. The Taiwanese education system places great value on high-stakes
written examinations. The competition for qualifying the entrance examinations topopular schools is severe and, in senior high schools, academic courses are ranked
higher than vocational courses are. The Japanese education system shows similar
characteristics.
Although rapid economic growth was achieved by both Taiwan and Japan, it
happened separately. One of the factors contributing to economic growth is the
expansion of the education system. Upon examining the process of expansion,differences can easily be found in the two countries (Blossfeld and Shavit, 1993). In
Japan, economic recovery started just after the war, owing to which economic growth
was achieved earlier than in Taiwan. Junior high schools were established and includedin the compulsory education scheme, and the rate of progression to senior high schools
rapidly increased. In 1974, the attendance at senior high schools exceeded 90%. On theother hand, although the attendance rate for tertiary education also increased, it
stagnated at around the 40% mark from the 1970s to the 1980s and started increasing
only in the 1990s as it became easier to pass the entrance examinations owing to thelow fertility rate and the decreasing number of children.
Today, junior colleges in Japan are attended exclusively by women because mostof the courses offered are related to fields dominated by women, such as home
economics, literature, nursing, dietetics, and welfare. Higher education is characterized
by gender segregation, although the gender gap has started to decrease. The attendance
rate in tertiary education for women is comparable to that for men, but it takes a certain
percentage for junior college (Ishida, 2007).
In Taiwan, junior high schools were also established soon after the end of WorldWar II, though attendance became compulsory only in 1968. The attendance at senior-2-high schools had not exceeded 50% in the 1970s, and was only about 10% at tertiary
education institutes. However, there was a rapid expansion of the secondary andtertiary education systems after the 1980s. The attendance rate at senior high schools
currently exceeds 90%, and that for tertiary education has also nearly caught up withthe rate in Japan. The expansion of the educational system in Taiwan has been delayed,
but the speed of expansion is higher than Japan’s. In addition, although some fields intertiary education show gender-based segregation, no institution of tertiary education,such as the junior colleges in Japan, is exclusively dominated by one gender.1
The structure of senior high schools, or the tracking system, is different in Japanand Taiwan. Both countries follow a dual-course system, comprising one academic
course that covers non-vocational subjects for admission to higher education
institutions, and another vocational course that includes training to help the students
obtain jobs after graduation from high school. Before the end of World War II, theopportunities for progressing to secondary or tertiary education were severely
restricted, and the dual-tracking system was adopted for secondary education. As aresult, students attending the vocational secondary schools could hardly progress tocolleges or universities. However, following postwar democratization, people wereencouraged to move to the upper level of schools, and consequently, the severe
competition for passing the entrance examinations became a social problem. The
academic high school course, with its curriculum being considered as advantageous forpassing the university entrance examinations, was popular amongst applicants.
Consequently, the local governments increased the number of academic course highschools, as a result of which the majority of Japanese high schools follow academic
courses. The ratio of academic to vocational courses did not change dramatically.
On the other hand, in Taiwan, there were more vocational high school students
than academic students until the 1990s. Although the ratio of vocational to academic
high school students has been decreasing since 2000s, it is still high. In comparison to
Japan, there are more vocational high school graduates in Taiwan, and the structural
ratio of high school courses has changed dramatically (Guo, 2005; Tsai and Shavit,2007). As the share for attending academic high schools in Taiwan is lower than that in
In Japan, there is a formal tertiary education institution called Kôsen (abbreviationof Kôtô-Semmon Gakkô), College of Technology. This school accepts junior high school
students and provides a 5-year high level vocational education course. However, thenumber of Kôsen is low, and most of Kôsen students are males because the specialty ofKôsen is limited to engineering.
1-3-

Japan, passing the entrance examination for high schools is more important for
Taiwanese students who want to attend universities. Thus, preparatory education for
examinations has become competitive, and junior high school students are allocated toability-based groups that affect the choice of senior high school courses (Broaded,1997). Although senior high schools in Japan are also ranked on the basis of academic
grades, ability-based group instruction, such as in Taiwan, is rare in Japanese juniorhigh schools and particularly in the public schools.
The industrial structure and the labor market are also different in the twocountries. Although the economic development in both countries was fueled by theexport of industrial products, the dependence on trade is much higher in Taiwan.
Family firms or small business groups play a crucial role in the export-oriented
manufacturing sector in Taiwan. On the other hand, in Japan, there are networks oflarge companies involved in unrelated businesses that are joined by central banks or
trading companies, a vestige of the pre-World War II “zaibatsu”. The major
manufacturers construct a hierarchical system of smaller, independent firms, and havean influence on the management of these firms. Therefore, in declining economic
conditions, the smaller firms are more likely to face severe problems. On the other
hand, the small companies obtain information concerning their management throughthe network of companies, and can thereby prepare to face the problems. As the small
firms in Taiwan do not have such networks, their business prospects are lower.
Consequently, the risk of bankruptcy is high (Hamilton and Biggart, 1988).
Traditionally, large Japanese companies have offered a full range of fringe
benefits to attract promising new graduates. These recruits, who were predominantly
males, were employed as regular workers and provided on-the-job-training. The
salaries were gradually increased if the employees remained in the same company. On
the other hand, married women were usually excluded from the labor market of regular
workers, and were expected to do unpaid work in the form of supporting theirhusbands’ firm-centered life. This led to the formation of a gender-segregated labormarket (Miyamoto, 2008).
The position of male regular workers is strongly protected. The employers preferto respond economic changes through employment adjustment such as offering
part-time peripheral jobs to married women. At the same time, it has become expensive
for employers to keep large number of such workers in the globalized economy, andthe percentage of regular workers has decreased since the late 1970s. In addition,-4-

owing to criticism not offering women opportunities for regular workers, theemployers have started to recruit women. The number of temporary workers has
gradually increased, particularly amongst members of the younger generation2.
The Japanese companies have a unique employee training system. Regular
workers in large companies are usually moved from one section to another every few
years. The companies tend to place more value on knowledge or skills that are
firm-specific rather than field specific, and regular employees gain experience inseveral kinds of roles within the company. Thus, the employers tend to recruit fresh
graduates who have not been regular workers in any other firms. These practices have
led to the formation of the unique Japanese school-to-work transition system (Kariya
and Rosenbaum, 1995), supported by the strong linkage between schools andemployers. This system, once established by the influential large companies, wasfollowed by the smaller companies as well. Thereafter, the education system adapted
itself to the labor market, and the relationship between education and the labor market
became complementary (Aoki, 2001).
It emerges that there are three main differences between Japan and Taiwan withregard to the education system and the labor market: (1) The proportion of vocational
high school students is much higher in Taiwan. (2) High school courses offering
educational choices to the students started earlier in Taiwan. (3) Export-oriented
industrial manufacturing plays a more significant role in the Taiwanese economy. 4)
The ratio of small or family-run firms is higher in Taiwan, and there is no network or
vertical relationship with large manufacturing firms.
2-2. Complementary Relationship between Education and WorkThe education system provides the labor market with labor forces. It is naturalfor a strong association to exist between the labor market institutions and the education
system. In previous studies, sociologists have focused on the degree of stratification of
the secondary school system and the curriculum of vocational specificity. Thesevariables were considered to affect the students’ choice of jobs or occupational careers.
For example, if the education system was differentiated and stratified on the basis of
curriculum, the schools had a more significant function of allocation to the labor2

Traditionally, certain percentage of male day laborers, comprising unskilled orconstruction workers, have not been protected by any social security or fringe benefits
system.
-5-

market, because the correspondence between the differentiated school system and thestratified occupational structure could be easily observed (Bowles and Gintis, 1976;
Allmendinger, 1989). Under the stratified education system, it became easier to movefrom schools to jobs smoothly if vocational training was provided in the lower-ability
track of secondary schools (Kerckhoff, 2001). As the attendance rate at senior highschools was saturated and that for tertiary education was not low, students graduatingfrom senior high schools without vocational training and not progressing to tertiary
education would have a high risk of unemployment (Iannelli and Raffe, 2006).
Vocational courses could decrease such a risk by providing useful skills for students
who wanted to start working soon after high school graduation. On the other hand,several researchers warned that such a tracking system was more likely to fix or
expand the disparity of academic grades correlated with socioeconomic backgrounds,
and reinforce the inequality in education opportunity, particularly in progression tohigher education (Oakes, 1985). In addition, although the vocational courses could
reduce the risk of unemployment, some researchers indicated that opportunities forpromotion to managerial or professional positions were more likely to be closed forsuch students (Müller and Shavit, 1998; Pfeffer, 2008; Bol and van de Werfhorst,2013).
Japan and Taiwan introduced apparently the same education system. However,vocational specificity is higher in Taiwan. This implies that Taiwanese secondary
schools are more vocation-oriented, and that the association between school courses
and occupational careers is stronger in Taiwan. Japanese senior high schools also have
vocational courses, and there are colleges of technology that supply well trained,skilled manpower. However, the ratio of vocational courses in senior high schools is
not large, and the number of colleges of technology is small3. This implies that theeducation system in Japan does not place much value on vocational training.
Vocational high school graduates tend to obtain jobs that are relevant to what they havelearned. However, as recent vocational high school graduates have often progressed totertiary education 4 , there are few differences of occupational choices or careers
between students of vocational courses and low-ranked academic courses. In addition,

As of 2013, there were only 63 colleges in Japan.
All students who complete senior high school education, from academic as well as
vocational courses, are eligible to take an entrance examination for junior colleges oruniversities.
3
4

-6-

except for a few number of vocational training classes, the curriculum of vocationalcourses is almost the same as that of academic courses. The organizational structure ofJapanese firms has probably related to the tendency to undervalue specific vocational
training at schools.
Large firms can afford to recruit many new graduates at the same time. Once
employed, the workers gain firm-specific skills and knowledge while competing
against their colleagues who were employed in the same year. They are evaluated andpromoted while being shifted from one section to another every few years (Doeringer
and Piore, 1971). With middle-sized and small firms following practices of the large
institutions, the ideals of lifetime employment and seniority have taken root inJapanese society (Aoki, 2001).

3. Hypotheses
It is often indicated that there still is a gender disparity in opportunities for
obtaining regular jobs and of working conditions in the Japanese labor market(Brinton, 1989; Charles et al. 2004). The ideals of Japanese management, such as
seniority and lifetime employment, are applicable only to the male regular workers inlarge companies and government offices. As the social security system has beenfragile in Japan, large firms have implemented the comprehensive welfare schemes toobtain efficient workers. The working conditions and salaries of the male regular
workers have improved, and their status has been strongly protected. However, theother male workers or women have been deprived of these opportunities. The maleregular workers are more likely to be highly educated, and the women who getmarried to such men are also likely to be similarly qualified. According tofunctionalists, highly educated persons are less likely to leave the labor market.
However, in Japan, a contradictory situation can be observed. While the husbands
working in large companies concentrate only on paid work, their wives leave thelabor market and devote themselves to housework and childrearing (Hirao, 2001).
Women in East Asian countries cannot be homemakers unless their husbands havevery high salaries as child education is expensive. Therefore, wives whose husbands
do not have a high salary are more likely to be employed as temporary workers to
help bear the costs of living and child education.
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On the other hand, family firms or small business groups occupy the Taiwaneselabor market. It is difficult for the workers to have clear plans for the future because
the small firms are dependent on economic conditions. Although the Japanese have amore liberal attitude to gender, Taiwanese women are less likely to leave the labormarket after marriage and childbirth (Yu, 2001a; Yu, 2009). A reason of thiscontradiction is since the small family firms cannot afford to provide welfare benefits
to their employees, depending on only the husbands’ salary seems risky (Yu, 2009).
Considering the conditions of the two societies, the choice of the first job seems
to have a significant impact on people’s careers in Japan, and male regular workers
tend to remain in their first workplaces. In addition, the distribution of firm size inJapan differs from that in Taiwan. As the number of large firms in Japan is more thanthat in Taiwan, the total retention rate of workers in the first workplace seems higher
in Japan. If the mechanism of the internal labor market functions, the employees whochoose large firms or the government for the first jobs would be less likely to leave
the workplace in both countries (Doeringer and Piore, 1971).
I suggest the following four hypotheses after considering these differences:
1) Employees in Taiwan are more likely to leave their first workplaces than thosein Japan.
The employment system involving lifetime employment and seniority has
penetrated not only the large firms in Japan, but the middle-sized and small firms as
well. Therefore, it is natural that employees in Japan remain longer in their first
workplaces than those in Taiwan.
2) Comparing the propensity to leave the workplace between men and women,
men are less likely to leave their workplace in Japan, while there is little genderdifference in Taiwan.
Historically, lifetime employment and seniority systems have been mainly
applicable in the case of male regular workers, and most women have been excluded
from the pool of regular workers in Japan. However, there is no such employment
system in Taiwan because the majority of employers are small family firms that are
unable to provide a welfare system to the employees. It is difficult for such firms toretain employees. Consequently, there is hardly any gender difference with regard to
the propensity to remain in the workplace in Taiwan.
3) Employees in large firms or government offices tend to remain in theirworkplace in both countries.
-8-

Applying the internal labor market theory to the data analysis, firm size emerges
as a crucial variable. In addition, as this theory is not specific to a specific society, it ispossible to apply it to either country. Therefore, employees who start working in large
firms or government offices are less likely to leave their jobs.
4) As vocational specificity is more prominent in the Taiwanese education
system, professionals or blue-collar workers who require specific skills or techniques
tend to remain in their first workplace. To the contrary, blue-collar workers in Japanare more likely to leave their first workplace.
Vocational specificity makes the association between education and occupationstronger. If the job fits the education, employees tend to remain in their workplace.
However, since vocational education in Japan has been poor, it is difficult to findappropriate jobs before high school graduation.
In addition, the working conditions in Japanese manufacturing companies havedeteriorated owing to developments in the globalized economy. These factors might
have promoted blue-collar workers in Japan to leave their jobs.

4. Data and Methods
In this study, data for Japan was obtained from the Japanese Life Course Panel
Survey (JLPS), conducted by the Institute of Social Sciences at the University ofTokyo. Under the survey, men and women aged from 20 to 40 years were randomly
sampled nationwide at end-2007, and followed up surveys conducted annually torecord the changes in factors such as occupation, social attitude, and marital status. The
survey included data on occupational careers after graduation of schools. The
occupational career data were used in this study5.
For Taiwan, the Social Stratification and Social Mobility (SSM) survey
conducted in 2005 was used to obtain data. The SSM survey has been conducted every
decade in Japan since 1955, and surveys with the same framework were conducted in
Occupational career data were included in the third panel survey, conducted in2009. The sample size of the first survey was 4,800. Participants of the panel survey
agreed to join the follow-up surveys in the coming years. Although panel survey
attrition could not be avoided, over 80% of original samples remained in the thirdsurvey. I found no severe bias in the distribution of this data in comparison to the other
data.
5

-9-

South Korea and Taiwan in 2005 to compare the structure of social stratification andmobility patterns in the East Asian countries. To compare the Taiwanese data with the
JLPS data, this study made use of only the 2,309 samples from participants born
between 1966 and 1984. As one of the aims of the SSM project was to obtain thehistories of people’s occupational changes, this Taiwanese data included information
on occupational careers.
Information on the position, kind of occupation, size of firm, and the timing ofoccupational mobility were included in the data collected on occupational careers.
Therefore, the period of stay at each workplace could be calculated. For this study, a
respondent was classified as having left his/her workplace if a specific employer wasleft or if a self-employed person quit his/her business. Mobility such as personnel
change, promotion, or change of occupational kind was not regarded as leaving theworkplace. In addition, as Taiwanese men have to undertake compulsory military
service, if the respondent did not change the employer before and after the service, I
considered him as having remained at the same workplace.
First, I obtained the Kaplan-Meier survival curves to compare the duration of
employment in the first workplaces between countries by controlling gender, andbetween genders by controlling country. Though the first workplace was the primary
focus of this paper, the duration of second workplaces was also considered for
confirmation. While some researchers have indicated that the first job has a significant
impact on people’s careers in Japan, I could not find similar observations for Taiwan. If
an internship were to be regarded as the first job, it would be natural for the duration of
the first job to be very short. In such cases, the second job would have a crucial impact
on the occupational career.
Second, I converted occupational career data into the person-year format, andemployed discrete-time logit models to estimate the effect of leaving the first or second
workplace. The independent variables were firm size and occupational class. I used theErikson, Goldthorpe, and Portocarero (EGP) class scheme to define occupational class(Erikson, Goldthorpe, and Portocarero, 1979). Dummies of time periods, education
background6, and occupational status were also considered as control variables. In theanalysis for Taiwan, I controlled whether or not the respondent had joined compulsory
military service during the period of employment at the first or second workplace.
The “Junior/Technical College” category included the specialized training college(Senshû-Gakkô) in the analysis of Japanese data.
6-10-

5. Results
5-1. Descriptive Statistics
For Taiwan, there was no clear difference in the distribution between the firstand second workplaces. The analysis of the second workplace originally needed
careful interpretation, because only people who left the first workplace could haveobtained a second job. Thus, there was the problem of selectivity: For example, if
people with low education background tended to leave the first workplace, thosehaving worked at the second workplace would be biased toward people with low
education. However, such a difference of distribution was not found in Taiwanese data.
The distribution was similar except for the larger percentage of blue-collar workers formen and the larger percentage of clerical and sales workers for women.
Table 1 Descriptive Statistics of Taiwan Data
Men (First Job) Women (First Job) Men (Second Job)Women (Second Job)

N
Occupational Status
Regular Worker
Temporary Worker
Self-employed or Family Worker
Education
Junior High School
Academic High School
Vocational High School
Junior/Technical College
University or Graduate School
Company Size
Small or Middle (less than 999)
Large (1,000 and over employees)
Public Sector
Occupational Class
Service Class (EGP Ⅰ+Ⅱ)
Clerical Worker (EGP Ⅲa)Sales Worker (EGP Ⅲb）Petty Bourgeoisie and Farmer (EGP Ⅳ+Ⅶb）

Manual Worker (EGP Ⅴ+Ⅵ+Ⅶa）

N

%

N

%

N

%

N

%

904 89.33
26 2.57
82 8.10846 94.10
24 2.67
29 3.23648 85.49
21 2.77
89 11.74

669 91.27
14 1.91
50 6.82

103
29
362
222
296

96
23
281
198
301

97
21
292
165
183

83
24
248
170
208

10.18
2.87
35.77
21.94
29.25

10.68
2.56
31.26
22.02
33.48

12.80
2.77
38.52
21.77
24.14

11.32
3.27
33.83
23.19
28.38

805 79.55
110 10.87
97 9.58

736 81.87
109 12.12
54 6.01

635 83.77
78 10.29
45 5.94607 82.81
85 11.60
41 5.59

265 26.19
64 6.32
83 8.20
57 5.63543 53.65
1012

183
242
164
10
300
899

212 27.97
44 5.80
77 10.16
53 6.99372 49.08
758

153
193
166
19
202
733

20.36
26.92
18.24
1.11
33.37

20.87
26.33
22.65
2.59
27.56

The percentage of temporary workers in Japan was more than that in Taiwan. In-11-addition, the distribution was different for men and women, with over half of thewomen being temporary workers at a second workplace. This indicates that it is stillcommon for Japanese women to leave their workplaces after marriage to devote theirtime and energy to housework and childrearing, and to start working again as
temporary workers to add to their husbands’ income as the child grows up. The
percentage of workers with lower education backgrounds at the second workplace wasslightly higher than that at the first workplace, which indicates that people with lower
education backgrounds are more likely to leave their first workplace. In addition, thepercentage of small firms accounting for the second workplace was larger than that for
the first workplace, which implies that people who got their first jobs at large firms or
government offices are less likely to leave the first workplace. Finally, the distributionof the occupational class also changed from the first to the second workplace.
Professionals are less likely to leave their first jobs. Men who leave their first job tend
to obtain blue-collar jobs, and while such women are more likely to obtain clericalwork.
Table 2 Descriptive Statistics of Japan Data
Men (First Job) Women (First Job) Men (Second Job)Women (Second Job)

N
Occupational Status
Regular Worker
Temporary Worker
Self-employed or Family Worker
Education
Junior High School
Academic High School
Vocational High School
Junior/Technical College
University or Graduate School
Company Size
Small or Middle (less than 999)
Large (1,000 and over employees)
Public Sector
Occupational Class
Service Class (EGP Ⅰ+Ⅱ)
Clerical Worker (EGP Ⅲa)Sales Worker (EGP Ⅲb）Petty Bourgeoisie and Farmer (EGP Ⅳ+Ⅶb）

Manual Worker (EGP Ⅴ+Ⅵ+Ⅶa）

N

%

N

%

1,010 83.33 1,121 76.41
168 13.86
326 22.22
34 2.81
20 1.36

N

%

N

%

474 68.30
176 25.36
44 6.34

414 42.33
528 53.99
36 3.68

16 1.32
286 23.60
77 6.35
267 22.03
566 46.70

11.75
306 20.86
71 4.84
674 45.94
405 27.61

15 2.16186 26.80
50 7.20181 26.08
262 37.75

9.92
227 23.21
56 5.73461 47.14
225 23.01

879 72.53
273 22.52
60 4.95

1078 73.49
332 22.63
57 3.89

588 84.73
84 12.10
22 3.17778 79.55
155 15.85
45 4.60

270
195
255
39
453
1212

353
636
283
9
186
1467

124
105
144
42
279
694

179
428
196
23
152
978

22.28
16.09
21.04
3.22
37.37

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24.06
43.35
19.29
.61
12.68

17.87
15.13
20.75
6.05
40.20

18.30
43.76
20.04
2.35
15.54

0.50
0.00

0.25

survival rate

0.75

1.00

Figure 1: Kaplan-Meier Curves of Men's first job

0

100

200
monthsTaiwan

300

400

Japan

Source: SSM2005-Taiwan& JLPS22(log-rank test =202.43 (p<.000), Wilcoxon test =205.10 (p<.001)

0.50
0.25
0.00

survival rate

0.75

1.00

Figure 2: Kaplan-Meier Curves of Women's first job

0

100

200
monthsTaiwan

300

400

Japan

Source: SSM2005-Taiwan& JLPS22(log-rank test =314.04 (p<.000), Wilcoxon test =372.68 (p<.001)

5-2. Comparison of Kaplan-Meier Curves
Figures 1 to 4 indicate the Kaplan-Meier survival curves of the first or second
workplaces between Japan and Taiwan. The hypothesis, that the risk of leaving theworkplace is higher in Taiwan, is generally supported with the exception of Figure 4.
Although the duration of women’s second jobs is statistically significant, we cannot
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0.50
0.00

0.25

survival rate

0.75

1.00

Figure 3: Kaplan-Meier Curves of Men's second job

0

100

200

monthsTaiwan300

Japan

Figure 4: Kaplan-Meier Curves of Women's second job

0.50
0.25
0.00

survival rate

0.75

1.00

Source: SSM2005-Taiwan& JLPS22(log-rank test =108.36 (p<.000), Wilcoxon test =102.10 (p<.001)

0

50

100

months150

Taiwan

200

250

Japan

Source: SSM2005-Taiwan& JLPS22
log-rank test =28.35 (p<.000), Wilcoxon test =67.24 (p<.001)

conclude that the hypothesis is supported at women’s second jobs in this case because
the two survival curves crossed each other. As Table 2 indicates, the percentage ofwomen amongst temporary workers at their second jobs in Japan is large. As the
temporary workers are less likely to remain in their workplaces, we could not find any
difference in the survival curves between Japan and Taiwan.
Although the labor market in Japan is still considered to be segregated by gender,
the barrier between men and women is now being eliminated. This is indicated by the
results of the study, data for which was entirely collected from people belonging to the
-14-

1.00
0.50
0.00

0.25

survival rate

0.75

Figure 5: Kaplan-Meier Curves of the First Job in Japan

0

100

200
monthsFemale

300

400

Male

Figure 6: Kaplan-Meier Curves of the First Job in Taiwan

0.50
0.25
0.00

survival rate

0.75

1.00

Source: JLPS 22(log-rank test =60.87 (p<.000), Wilcoxon test =37.37 (p<.001)

0

100

200
monthsFemale

300

400

Male

Source: SSM-Taiwan
2005
2
2(log-rank test =57.73 (p<.000), Wilcoxon test =37.60 (p<.001)

younger generation. However, the elimination of the barrier only implies that some
women are being included in the conventional male-dominated internal labor market.
Women still have a propensity to obtain marginal, temporary jobs. Figures 5 and 6
indicate that women are more likely to leave their first jobs in both countries. In Japan,
the difference of the survival curves seems to be expanding. In Taiwan, women’s
retention rate at the first workplace decreased rapidly at the beginning, but thedifference between the survival curves shrank. With reference to second workplaces, asimilar trend is seen in Japan. However, there is no significant difference of the
-15-

1.00
0.00

0.25

0.50

survival rate

0.75

Figure 7: Kaplan-Meier Curves of the Second Job in Japan

0

50

100

150
months200

Female250

MaleFigure 8: Kaplan-Meier Curves of the Second Job in Taiwan

0.00

0.25

0.50

survival rate

0.75

1.00

Source: JLPS 22(log-rank test =37.66 (p<.000), Wilcoxon test =20.97 (p<.001)

0100

monthsFemale

200

300

Male

Source: SSM-Taiwan
2005
2
2(log-rank test =0.16 (p=.690), Wilcoxon test =0.84 (p=.358)

survival curves between genders in Taiwan. Hypothesis 2, indicating that men are lesslikely to leave their jobs in Japan while there is no significant difference between
genders in Taiwan, is generally supported except in the case of first workplaces in
Taiwan.
5-3. Results of Discrete-Time Logit Models
Tables 3 and 4 indicate that Hypothesis 3, those who obtain jobs at large firms or
government offices are less likely to leave the workplace, is generally supported. The-16-

coefficient of firm size for women’s second jobs in Japan is not statistically significant
because the samples include data from many temporary workers. These workers areoften treated badly and they have no motivation to continue their jobs. This condition
has nothing to do with firm size.
Professionals and blue-collar workers in Taiwan are less likely to leave their firstjobs as compared to clerical workers. Although the first two occupational classes are
regarded as the extremes of high and low, it might be easily specify and imagine theranges of the job. The vocational specificity of the Taiwanese education system hasenabled these workers to remain in their first workplace for a long time. Comparing
Tables 5 and 6, the links between university education and professionals and between
secondary education and blue-collar workers are stronger in Taiwan than in Japan, andthe percentage of vocational senior high school graduates is higher than in Taiwan aswell. High school graduates in Japan tend to be blue-collar workers. However, as thevocational specificity of senior high schools in Japan is not strong, and as industrial
manufacturers in the country have been facing difficulties, blue-collar workers are
more likely to leave their jobs in Japan. This result supports Hypothesis 4.
However, contradictory results are found in the case of women and second
workplaces. For example, unlike males, female blue-collar workers are more likely, incomparison to clerical workers, to leave their first jobs in both countries 7. In Taiwan,
the differences in the working conditions between genders appear small because of thehigh employment rate amongst married women. However, the salaries of female blue
collar workers are extremely low (Yu, 2001b) 8. The bad working conditions might beforcing them to change their jobs. In Japan, sales workers have positively significant
effects. There are many temporary workers amongst salespersons. For example,
working as salesclerks at supermarkets is regarded as a typical part-time (temporary)job for married women in Japan. Such workers do not need high skills, and theemployers do not bear a high training cost for them. However, these sales workers are
more likely to leave their jobs because there is no motivation to stay if they are notsatisfied with the working conditions.

However, female vocational high school graduates are less likely to leave their first workplace.
The vocational specificity of high school education might have contributed to this result.
8 According to SSM data, the mode of male blue collar workers’ income was NT$40,000～49,999.
However, for females, this was only NT$20,000～29,999.
7-17-

Table 3 Discrete-time Logit Model Predicting Leaving Their Workplaces (Taiwan)
Male First Job
Female First Job
Male Second Job
Female Second Job
Robust
Odds
Robust
Odds
Robust
Odds
Robust
Odds
Coef.
Coef.
Coef.
Coef.
.S.E.
Ratio
.S.E.
Ratio
.S.E.
Ratio
.S.E.
Ratio
Occupational Status (Temporary Worker)
Regular Worker-.652.249 **.521.532.302 +
1.702
.395
.296
1.485
.729
.606
2.073
***
Self-employed or Family Worker-1.518.370.219 -.628.387.534 -.444.319.641 -.710
.698
.492
Education (Academic High School)
Junior High School
-.399
.285
.671 -.684.236 **
.505
.066
.405
1.068 -.628.315 *.534
Vocational High School
-.294
.231
.745 -.421.209 *
.656
.046
.393
1.047 -.394
.267
.674
Junior/Technical College
-.186
.230
.830 -.177
.215
.838
.164
.406
1.178 -.295
.273
.745
University or Graduate School
-.183
.229
.833
.006
.218
1.007
.091
.417
1.095 -.333
.283
.717
Company Size (less than 999)
Large (1,000 and over employees)-.432.106 ***.649 -.668.104 ***.513 -.217.147.805 -.674.157 ***.510
Public Sector-.869.154 ***.419 -.598.218 **.550 -1.209.257 ***.298 -.354
.305
.702
Occupational Class (Clerical Worker: EGP Ⅲa)Service Class (EGP Ⅰ+Ⅱ)-.331
.158 *.718 -.103
.119
.902
.215
.210
1.240 -.460.185 *.631**
Sales Worker (EGP Ⅲb）
-.017
.187
.983
.185
.127
1.203
.676
.225
1.967
.281
.154 +
1.325
Petty Bourgeoisie and Farmer (EGP Ⅳ+Ⅶb） -.642.367 +
.526
.575
.538
1.778
.195
.321
1.215 -1.068
.801
.344
Manual Worker (EGP Ⅴ+Ⅵ+Ⅶa）-.452.164 **.636.424.114 *** 1.529.474.197 *
1.606
.226
.149
1.253
Compulsory Military Service (No)
Yes
-.855
.141 ***
.425
-.443
.284
.642
Number of People
1012
899
758
733
Number of Observations
46513
27256
20534
15129
-3628.742-3169.340-2107.849-1597.540
Log Pseudolikelihood
Note : Coefficients of time dummy variables are omitted.
+ p <.10* p <.05** p <.01*** p <.001 (two-tailed test)Table 4 Discrete-time Logit Model Predicting Leaving Their Workplaces (Japan)
Male First Job
Female First Job
Male Second Job
Female Second Job
Robust
Odds
Robust
Odds
Robust
Odds
Robust
Odds
Coef.
Coef.
Coef.
Coef.
.S.E.
Ratio
.S.E.
Ratio
.S.E.
Ratio
.S.E.
Ratio
Occupational Status (Temporary Worker)
Regular Worker-1.078.114 ***.340 -.725.098 ***.484 -1.387.128 ***.250 -.424.090 ***.654
Self-employed or Family Worker-1.846.444 ***.158 -.619.391.538 -3.893.674 ***.020 -1.326.469 **.266
Education (Academic High School)
Junior High School
.172
.311
1.187 -.471.425.624 -.545.297 +.580 -.157
.440
.854
Vocational High School
.213
.166
1.237
.084
.163
1.088
.171
.206
1.186
.201
.181
1.222
Junior/Technical College.331.112 **
1.392
.004
.095
1.004
.228
.147
1.256
.136
.113
1.146
University or Graduate School
.063
.115
1.065
.086
.112
1.090 -.011
.160
.989
.171
.132
1.187
Company Size (less than 999)
Large (1,000 and over employees)-.519.090 ***.595 -.262.076 **.769 -.233.133 +.792 -.127
.101
.881
+
*
Public Sector
-.489
.263
.613 -.351.226.704 -.848.330.428 -.016
.238
.984
Occupational Class (Clerical Worker: EGP Ⅲa)Service Class (EGP Ⅰ+Ⅱ)
-.146
.150
.864
.001
.097
1.001 -.245.200.782 -.094
.130
.911
Sales Worker (EGP Ⅲb）.318.148 *
1.375.530.103 *** 1.699
.289
.189
1.335
.338
.115 **
1.403
Petty Bourgeoisie and Farmer (EGP Ⅳ+Ⅶb）
.389
.415
1.476 -.801.586.449 1.019.606 +
2.770
.349
.521
1.417
*
**
Manual Worker (EGP Ⅴ+Ⅵ+Ⅶa）
.298
.146
1.347
.285
.109
1.330 -.152
.174
.859
.159
.134
1.172
Number of People
1212
1467
694
978
Number of Observations
17189
15151
6640
6595
-2672.236-3324.590-1338.784-1985.176
Log Pseudolikelihood
Note : Coefficients of time dummy variables are omitted.
+ p <.10* p <.05** p <.01*** p <.001 (two-tailed test)-19-

6. Discussion
In the overall comparison between Japan and Taiwan, it emerges that workers in
Taiwan are more likely to leave their jobs than. Temporary workers, however, are more
likely to leave their workplaces in Japan. The difference between the two countries in
the retention rate of women in second jobs is not clear because of the increasing
number of temporary workers. Generally, male workers tend to remain in theirworkplace. However, there is no gender difference in the retention rate for second
workplaces. As vocational specificity seems to be stronger in Taiwan than in Japan,
male professionals and blue-collar workers are less likely to leave their first jobs in
Taiwan. Similar results are not observed for Japan. Here, male blue-collar workers andsales workers are more likely to leave their first jobs. The negative effects of large
firms and government offices can be observed in both countries.
It has been often stated that the relationship between leaving a job and marriage
or childbirth is strong for women in Japan. However, as the timing of marriage orchildbirth was not recorded in the Japanese data, no analysis could be done taking into
account these life events. Even if a certain number of women in Japan left their jobs
after marriage or childbirth, the retention rate for the first workplace would still higher
than Taiwan. Furthermore, career histories including third or later jobs, or the
relationship between occupational statuses before and after the mobility should beconsidered in future studies on this topic. It can be possible to extend the hypothesisthat changes in occupational class will be limited in countries where the education
systems are differentiated at the earlier stages and are specified to vocational education.
Moreover, a theoretical explanation of the differences between Japan and Taiwan will
be inadequately because there are several contradictory results to my hypotheses.
In conclusion, it can be said that the education system and the labor market arecomplementary to each other. The education system created a strong vocational
specificity and a large number of vocational senior high school graduates in Taiwan.
The labor market also required such an education system. The weak vocational
specificity and the small number of vocational course graduates in Japan might be
partly a result of the movements of the teachers’ union after World War II. However,many junior high school graduates wanted to attend academic senior high schools, andthe Japanese labor market accepted graduates who did not receive vocational training
or did not learn any vocational skill. If the labor market changes owing to theglobalized economy, the education system also has to change in accordance with theconditions of the labor market. However, it is hard to imagine that rapid and dramaticchanges taking place in the education system or the labor market because the two are
deeply connected and people’s values and attitudes are affected by these institutions.

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-23-

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