Research on Employment and Social Security System in 21st Century

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In the 21^<st> century, utilization of women workers is the key for economic development and maintaining social security system in the aging society. At the same time, growth of non-standard work arrangements is expanding in Japan in order to reduce labor costs and foster competitiveness in the global economy.This research examines how the growth of non-standard work arrangements proliferated in the economy, why this is happening, and what are the consequences of the growth of non-standard work arrangement in terms of job security, wages and benefits. It is found that the growth of non standard work arrangements is a demand driven phenomenon because the pressure to reduce labor costs is the primary reason why firms change the optimum mix of regular and non-regular workers and increase non-regular workers.This is because companies do not have to pay seniority-based wages and social security and unemployment premiums for most of the non-regular workers. This cost saving is especially important at a time when the labor force is aging.At the same time, it is important to recognize the need for married women to work part-time in order to reconcile the competing demands between family obligations and work. Thus we propose to create regular full-time jobs which enable workers to choose flexible work schedules in order to balance work and family life, increase the return on women's educational investments, stimulate economic growth and augment government finances.