Company-initiated severance pay - kaishatsugoutaishokukin

…Even before the employment labor system was born, Japan had a practice of providing tangible and intangible benefits for long-term employment, such as retirement benefits for retiring samurai and "norenwake" for merchant employees who became independent after many years of service. After the Meiji period, in order to secure long-term skilled labor, retirement benefits were paid according to the number of years of employment, so that for every two years of employment, the retirement benefit was four to five times higher. During the recession and cutbacks in personnel in the early Showa period, there was no unemployment insurance system, so severance pay (company-initiated severance pay) was institutionalized to facilitate dismissals. After World War II, when rapid economic growth created a labor shortage, early retirement benefits were established as part of the working conditions to encourage employees to settle down. …

*Some of the terminology used in reference to "company-initiated severance pay" is listed below.

Source | Heibonsha World Encyclopedia 2nd Edition | Information

…雇用労働制が生まれる前から，日本では，隠居する武士に退隠金，永年勤続ののちに独立する商家使用人に〈のれん分け〉というように，長期間の在職に対する有形無形の給付を行う慣行があった。明治以降は熟練労働者の長期確保のために，在職年数に応じて在職年数が2倍だと退職金は4～5倍になるような退職金が払われるようになり，昭和初期の不況･減員期には失業保険制度がなかったこともあって，解雇を円滑に行うための解雇手当(会社都合退職金)を制度化した。第2次大戦後に高度成長で労働力不足になると，定着化を図るための労働条件の一環として若年退職金が整備された。…

※「会社都合退職金」について言及している用語解説の一部を掲載しています。

出典｜株式会社平凡社世界大百科事典 第２版について | 情報