"The Changing World of Work - Developments in Japan and Germany"

The opportunities - but also the challenges - of the changing world of work are of particular concern to both Japan and Germany (see a column on this topic of our Chairman Gerhard Wiesheu here). During our symposium in Tokyo in October 2019, we examined various aspects of the process of change in the world of work. The speakers agreed that politicians, companies and social partners alike will be called upon to shape change with the involvement of society. 

These are the demands stated by Rintaro Tamaki, President of the Japan Center for International Finance (JCIF), in his introductory speech:

• Fundamental reform of traditional Japanese labour market practice (lifetime employment, seniority-based wages, mandatory retirement at 60, ...)
• Increase in the pension eligibility age above 65
• Improving life-long learning
• Reducing obstacles to the employment of women
• Greater use of foreign workers
• Breaking down labour market dualism
• Prepare for the future of work
• Entrepreneurship accelerates technology diffusion

His presentation can be downloaded at the bottom of this page.

The speech by Tetsuo Narukawa, Chairman of the International Affairs Committee and Vice-Chairman of the Labor Market Reform Committee of the KEIZAI DOYUKAI, can be found in a separate article in our Infopool. He explained especially about the chances of integrating foreign workers into the Japanese labour market.

You will find below the slides of Professor Franz Josef Düwell, Chairman of the Board of the German-Japanese Society for Labor Law. He compared the strategic approaches of German and Japanese politics with regard to the modernization of labor law and paid particular attention to "good work" in Germany.

Dr. Martin Pohl, Counsellor at the German Embassy in Tokyo, spanned an interesting arc between the contributions of the previous speakers and explained the different approaches in Japan and Germany with regard to the strategies for our future working world. 

Please also find the presentation of Prof. Dr. Junichi Tsujii, Managing Director of the AIST Artificial Intelligence Research Center, who we asked to talk about the impact of digitalization on the quality of our work.

Finally, we discussed the modernization of the working style to increase efficiency and thus the productivity of our economies. "Demographic change and digital revolution" was already the topic of a DJW symposium earlier this year. Plese watch the short video clip with some findings!

Downloads

• DJW - Symposium (Tokyo, 02.10.2019) - Tamaki, Rintaro "To Meet Labour Market Challenges in a Rapidly Changing Society" (English)
• DJW - Symposium (Tokyo, 02.10.2019) - Düwell, Prof. Franz Josef "Arbeitswelt im Wandel - Entwicklungen in Japan und Deutschland" (German)
• DJW - Symposium (Tokyo, 02.10.2019)_Pohl, Dr. Martin "Changing World of Work - Developments in Japan and Germany" (in English)
• DJW - Symposium (Tokyo, 02.10.2019) - Tsuji, Prof. Dr. Junichi "Co-Existence, Co-Operation and Co-Evolution between AIs and Humans" (English)