Labor economics

In the past 20 to 30 years, there have been many theories and empirical studies on industry and labor under various names such as industrial sociology, labor sociology, information society theory, and industrial economics. Labor economics should occupy a central position in this field, but its claims are not necessarily unified. For example, there are a wide range of ways of understanding and approaching it, such as "analyzing the reproduction structure of wage labor in capitalist economic institutions," "the political economy of wage labor," "a field of applied economics," "the goal of clarifying the uniqueness of the structure and movement of wage labor that exists at the opposite pole of capital," "exploring economic theories that are important for developing hypotheses about labor," "the economics of the labor market," and "a system of analysis of labor-related phenomena from an economics perspective."

The historical research on labor unions by J.R. Commons and S. Perlman, who are American institutionalists, absorbed theories of modern economics and labor-management relations during the depression of the 1930s, and gradually developed into a system known as labor economics. Thirty years later, R.A. Lester, L.G. Reynolds, N.W. Chamberlain, J.T. Dunlop, and others expanded the field of labor economics to include labor markets, income distribution, and collective bargaining, and the textbooks were reprinted and labor economics became so common that courses on labor economics were offered at universities. We should not overlook the background to the fact that labor issues, which of course require such theories and analysis, began to occupy a major position in the American economy. Furthermore, new fields such as human capital theory, internal labor market theory, and educational investment were added by B.M. Fleischer, R.B. Freeman, G.S. Becker, and others.

It is fair to say that Japan began to take up the topic of "labor economics" in earnest in the 1960s. The University of Tokyo's social policy course changed to labor economics in 1963, and the four-volume course "Labor Economics," in which many authors, who still lacked a unified system, freely developed their fields of expertise, was published in 1967. The now-familiar report "Labor White Paper" is called "Analysis of Labor Economics." In Japan, where the seeds of American labor economics were sown, the academic field of "social policy," which deals with social labor issues, had already taken root before World War II. However, despite the spectacular debate it caused about its essence, social policy was gradually subsumed within the germinating labor economics, which took on a local character. Not only has the leadership shifted from Marxist economics to modern economics, but issues such as the fixity of labor and human capital theory have erupted among researchers in Japan, and the completion of government statistics has skillfully fertilized the foundations of labor economics. Labor economics in Japan is now nurturing new branches and leaves, such as analysis of wage determination in collective bargaining, theories of intra-company labor markets, theories of maturity of labor-management relations, internal promotion systems, and expertise, while dispelling ideology. I would like to believe that labor economics will surely produce the scientific fruits of national policies that will maximize people's utility.

[Kounosuke Koizumi]

"Lectures on Labor Economics" edited by Ujihara Masajiro et al., 4 volumes (1967, Nippon Hyoronsha)" ▽ "Labor Economics" by Ono Akira (1983, Toyo Keizai Shinposha)" ▽ "Revised Structure of the Labor Economy" by Koizumi Konosuke (1986, Tokichousha)" ▽ "Basic Theory of Labor Economics" by Tamura Tsuyoshi (1989, Gakubunsha)" ▽ "Labor Economics" by Chuuma Hiroyuki and Higuchi Yoshio (1997, Iwanami Shoten)" ▽ "Introduction to Labor Economics" by Otake Fumio (1998, Nihon Keizai Shimbun)"

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

ここ20～30年の間に著しい発展を遂げた研究分野に、産業社会学、労働社会学、情報化社会論、産業経済論など多様な名称のもとで、産業、労働を対象とした理論と実証がある。労働経済学はその中心的位置を占めてよいはずであるが、その主張はかならずしも統一化されているわけではない。たとえば、「資本主義経済機構における〈賃労働〉の再生産構造を分析」「賃労働の政治経済学」「応用経済学の一分野」「資本の反対極に存在する賃労働の構造と運動の独自性を明らかにすることを課題」「労働についての諸仮説を展開するために重要である経済理論の探索」「労働市場の経済学」「労働に関連する事象についての、経済学の立場からの分析の体系」など、とらえ方や接近方法の幅は広すぎる。

　アメリカ制度学派のJ・R・コモンズ、S・パールマンによる労働組合の歴史的研究は、1930年代の不況期から近代経済学の理論や労使関係論を吸収しながら、しだいに労働経済学とよばれる体系を整えた。それから30年、R・A・レスター、L・G・レイノルズ、N・W・チェンバレン、J・T・ダンロップなどによって、労働経済学の分野は、労働市場、所得分配、団体交渉にまで拡充し、その教科書も版を重ね、大学に労働経済学の講座が置かれるほど普遍化した。もとよりかかる理論や分析を必要とする労働問題が、アメリカ経済に大きな位置を占め始めた事実の背景を見逃してはならないであろう。さらに人間資本論、内部労働市場論、教育投資という新しい分野が、B・M・フライシャー、R・B・フリーマン、G・S・ベッカーなどによって付け加えられた。

　わが国で「労働経済」を本格的に取り上げ始めたのは1960年代に入ってからであるといってよい。東京大学の社会政策講座が労働経済にかわったのは1963年（昭和38）、いまだ統一体系をもたない多くの執筆者が自由に専門分野を展開した『労働経済』全4巻の講座が出版されたのは67年であった。いまではすっかりなじんでしまった報告『労働白書』は、「労働経済の分析」の名でよばれている。アメリカ的労働経済学の種を散布されたわが国の土壌には、すでに第二次世界大戦前から社会労働問題を対象とした学問的分野「社会政策」が根づいていた。しかし華々しい本質論争を巻き起こしたにもかかわらず、社会政策は、しだいに風土的性格を帯びて発芽した労働経済学に包含されるのである。もとより、マルクス経済学から近代経済学に主導権が移ったばかりでなく、労働の固定性や人的資本論の課題が、わが国の研究者のなかに噴き出したことや、官庁統計の完備などが、巧みに労働経済学の根幹の肥料になったとみてよいであろう。いまやわが国の労働経済学は、イデオロギーを打ち消しながら、団体交渉の賃金決定分析、企業内労働市場論、労使関係成熟論、内部昇進制、熟練など、枝葉を茂らせつつある。おそらく人々の効用を極大に導く国家政策の科学的果実を、労働経済学はこれから生み出していくに違いない、とみておきたい。

［小泉幸之助］

『氏原正治郎他編『講座　労働経済』全4巻（1967・日本評論社）』▽『小野旭著『労働経済学』（1983・東洋経済新報社）』▽『小泉幸之助著『改訂　労働経済の構図』（1986・時潮社）』▽『田村剛著『労働経済学の基礎理論』（1989・学文社）』▽『中馬宏之、樋口美雄著『労働経済学』（1997・岩波書店）』▽『大竹文雄著『労働経済学入門』（1998・日本経済新聞社）』

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