Labour market transitions in Australia and Japan A Panel Data Analysis

Abstract

We compare labour market transitions between Australia and Japan using longitudinal data, applying dynamic multinomial models controlling for initial values and unobserved heterogeneity. For Australia, casual or fixed-term employment in period t-1 significantly raises the probability of permanent or ongoing employment in period t for both men and women. For Japan, fixed-term employment in period t-1 does not have any significant effect on the probability of permanent or ongoing employment in period t for either sexes. While for Australian women, permanent or ongoing employment in the current period significantly lowers the probability of casual or fixed-term employment in the subsequent period, for Japanese women, there is a corresponding increase in probability. The theoretical probability of labour market transitions from fixed-term employment to permanent employment is the lowest for Japanese women among the four country gender groups.