日本外籍劳动者政策的偏差为何形成?——基于政策执行的社会嵌入视角的分析

Why does the Policy Gap in Japanese Foreign Labor Policy Emerge?——An Analysis from the Perspective of Social Embeddedness of Policy Implementation

【问题】作为非移民国家,日本政府从20世纪90年代开始通过"边门"渠道接收非熟练技能外籍劳动者。虽然政府在设置这些渠道时强调保护劳动者的权利,但伴随外籍劳动者规模的扩大,其权益问题却日渐凸显。如何解释这种政策偏差的形成?【方法】论文通过定量和定性的分析,对日本外籍劳动者政策的言辞、输出和结果进行区分和对照,界定政策偏差;并以日系人劳动者和中国技能实习生为个案研究对象,从移民体制和劳动力市场两个维度研究政策执行的社会嵌入导致政策偏差的机制。【发现】日本政府在设置"边门"渠道的同时主要依托商业化的力量管理非熟练技能外籍劳动者的跨国流动,这些劳动者进入日本后成为日渐弹性化的劳动力市场中的有机构成部分。政策执行的这两方面社会嵌入推动了非熟练技能外籍劳动者数量的增加,但却导致这些劳动者的基本权利受到限制,他们在劳动力市场上的地位也很难得到提升。【结论】论文从理论上指出全球化时代发达国家劳工移民政策面临劳工跨国流动的"商品化"和劳动力市场弹性化的结构性限制。论文也指出了日本政府在改革外籍劳动者管理体制的同时,加强对劳动力市场规制的必要性。

Motivation: Despite being a non-immigration country,Japan began accepting unskilled foreign workers through side door channels in the 1990 s. Although the Japanese government stressed the protections of foreign workers in setting up those channels,foreign workers’ rights become weaker as more enter the country. How can this policy gap be explained?Methodology: This paper distinguishes and compares the rhetoric, output, and outcome of Japanese foreign labor policy through qualitative and quantitative analyses,and then defines the gap in Japanese foreign labor policy. Using case studies of Nikkeijin workers and Chinese Technical Intern Trainees,the paper analyzes the impact of the migration regime and the labor market and thereby reveals how the social embeddedness of policy implementation results in a policy gap.Findings: TheJapanese government mainly relies on commercialized sectors to manage the transnational flow of unskilled foreign workers while setting up side door channels.These workers are entrenched in the flexible labor market after entering Japan. These two aspects of the social embeddedness of policy implementation set constraints on the basic rights of these workers while promoting growth in the numbers of unskilled foreign workers. But,these workers can hardly get promoted in the labor market.Conclusion: This paper points out that the commercialization of international labor migration and flexibilization of the labor market set structural constraints on foreign labor policy of developed countries theoretically. It also argues that it is necessary for the Japanese government to regulate the labor market while reforming the governing system of foreign workers.