Japan – what can we learn? - Construction Labour Research

outsource every production function. They depend on real estateagencies to find, purchase, and sell the real estate, on carpenters andother workers for building and equipment. Moreover, this system doesnot entail employment practices in any building process at all. The useof agencies and of direct subcontracts with carpenters reduces to aminimum the cost of recruiting and training workers. The unitconstruction cost unlimitedly decreases to the extent that workerscannot manage to earn a sufficient living and generally rely on others’help, so that there are many parent-son partnerships in this productionsystem. Although the “power builder” has recently extended itsmarket share in metropolitan areas around Tokyo, this productionsystem is worth noting as opposite to traditional and “house maker”housing, though nonetheless of a traditional timber-framed style.3. Dilemma of skill reproduction strategies: the case of thehousing sector. 5• Absence of a stable training system and the aging of craftsmanAs mentioned above, the non-unionisation of workers and the lack ofprotective laws are distinctive in the industry. It has failed too toestablish a collective apprenticeship system. Responsibility for thetraining of successors in each trade rests with the system of becomingapprenticed to a certain craftsman on site (man to man on-the-jobtraining). It is a person or a small subcontracting firm who pays thewage for the young apprentices hired and expends the time and cost totrain them. Therefore, one of the biggest problems of constructionsince the 1980s has been how to secure the supply of young entrantsto become the skilled workers of the future. By the end of 1980s, thenumber of seasonal workers from agricultural regions was reduced toa quarter compared to 1970 and firms were mechanising processeswhile using existing elderly workers. The economic recession after thebubble spurred the trend of cost cutting for long-term investment,making latent the actual lack of a future skilled workforce.As a result, on-site apprenticeship has been on the verge of collapsesince the early 1990s. A survey that was conducted to examine thecurrent situation of craftsmen, though limited to trade union workersin Tokyo and other nearby prefectures, revealed that, as of 1993, more5Most interviews in this part were conducted in 2001 for my master thesis project. Additional data related to“power builder” is the outcome of an ongoing research project, conducted by the Institute for the Study ofConstruction Policy.CLR News No 2/200638