Empirical Study on life-course of immigrant workers from country to big town in prewar Japan

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In prewar Japan the population increased rapidly. Peasants' sons, excluding inheritors, not being able to get lands, they had to find jobs in towns.One part of them got jobs at the age younger than 20 years old, immediately after or several years after the graduation of compulsory elementary school. The other part of them got jobs after the military service or after the test for it.The former type of workers became skilled workers after a several-year apprenticeship, while the latter type of workers became unskilled workers or lower level workers (for example, day workers) because they could not have the chance to be under on-the-job-training.Most of peasants' sons entering big towns without finding their jobs in advance, they often remained unemployed for a certain period.Workers, having entered big towns from their birthplace, needed not to support their parents. They needed to support only their nuclear families, so their wage level was sufficient even when it was too low to reproduce their direct line families. The international competitiveness based on such low wage could remain as far as such workers could be supplied.Under the low wage, ordinary workers could not buy their own houses, so their demand for houses or rooms for rent made real estates possessed by the old profitable. The old people who had lived for a long time in big towns could lead a moderate life without a annuity system.