Institutionalized labor market for new school graduates in a weaving industry locality in the era of high economic growth: Case of Katsuyama, Fukui Prefecture

Abstract

Katsuyama is a small town located in the northeastern mountainous area of Fukui prefecture and known as a weaving industry locality. From the mid-1950s to early 1970s, the industry showed tremendous growth, and textile manufacturers faced a severe labor shortage. In this paper, the conditions of the local labor market of this weaving industry locality were investigated, focusing on new school graduates hired from outside the locality and married women. Findings from previous research conducted in another weaving industry locality, Kawamata, Fukushima prefecture, are also referred to. During the postwar years of spectacular economic growth, the high school enrollment rates increased, and many graduates moved to metropolitan areas seeking better jobs. This lessened the labor supply in rural localities. In the face of labor shortages, major textile manufacturers in and around Katsuyama expanded their labor catchment areas toward the surrounding rural areas, although this did not fill the shortage completely. The next strategy of the manufacturers was to introduce "Shudan Shushoku" an institutionalized system to match new school graduates (mainly junior high school) in economically stagnant areas with employers in booming regions. The destinations of "Shudan Shushoku" movers were typically metropolitan areas, such as Tokyo or Osaka, and therefore Katsuyama, a small town in the mountains, would have been an unusual destination for new school graduates. In the Katsuyama locality, labor market for new school graduates was socially regulated by multilayered institutions involving national, prefectural, and local institutions. As a result, the five major manufacturers in the locality were able to hire more than 1,500 girls who were graduates of junior high schools located in Hokkaido and Kyushu, over 1,000 km from Katsuyama. Growing up in a deprived area should function as an economic push factor for "Shudan Shushoku movers to decide to leave their hometowns. Although the unique pull factors of the Katsuyama locality were not clearly identifiable, it was essential for the introduction of the extensive "Shudan Shushoku system that the five major manufacturers in the locality were respected modernized enterprises. The relatively high turnover rate of "Shudan Shushoku" movers was a problem for the manufacturers, however. Although some put down roots in the Katsuyama locality and married locals, many left the locality within a few years.