Two tier work forces

Japanese companies are famous for their two-tier employment systems composed of a ‘core’ group of permanent employees and a larger group of ‘contingent’ workers with little or no job security.

In many cases the ‘contingent workers’ are employed by subcontractors or work at home. In either case the result is something of a dual labor market structure where one group of employees have ‘good’ jobs providing high wages, extensive fringe benefits, considerable opportunities for promotion and job security, while another group of employees have less desirable jobs paying low wages with few fringe benefits and providing little if any job security.