Research Results - Surveys | Service Sector Productivity in Japan: Determinants and Policies(SSPJ)

・Group I: Supervision and Measurement
・Group II: Capital Accumulation
・Group III: Labor & Human Capital
・Group IV: Simultaneity of Production & Consumption

Group I: Supervision and Measurement

Special Survey on Infertility as Part of the Longitudinal Survey on Employment and Fertility (LOSEF)

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Aim of Survey

Most academic surveys on infertility in the past have focused on patients at hospitals, and there are few surveys focusing on the population in general. As a result, it is unclear, what kind of people seek medical examination and treatment for infertility. Against this background, the survey aimed to investigate issues that had not been examined before by looking at the determinants of whether individuals decide to seek infertility examination and treatment and investigating the compatibility of fertility treatment and work.

Survey Outline

This survey focused on participants of the "Life and Employment Survey["/," which forms part of the LOSEF,] conducted by the Institute of Economic Research, Hitotsubashi University, in 2018 that had indicated that they were married. The survey was conducted online from January 21, 2020 to February 19, 2020, and received a total of 1,931 responses.

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Group II: Capital Accumulation

Survey on IT and Human Resources Linked to Productivity Improvements

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Aim of survey

To understand the current state and future trends of IT investment and IT-related human resources.

Survey Outline

● Targets of the survey: 6,500 listed and unlisted firms

The 6,500 firms consist of 500 firms that responded to the "Survey Report on IT Usage of Japanese Firms" conducted by the International Foundation for Information Technology in 2014 and retrospectively identified by　Tokyo Shoko Research (TSR) and 6,000 firms that were chosen based on the industry distribution of firms that responded to that survey and by ranking them based on their turnover in each industry category.

● Survey method: Online survey
- Firms were sent a letter requesting their participation and accessed the survey form online.
- The request letter was sent to the above-mentioned 6,500 firms.
● Survey period: January 18 to March 31, 2019

● Number of responses (number of responding firms): 281 firms

Note: Excluding firms that stopped responding half-way through the survey.

● Survey content:

A. ICT investment and level

B. Use of ICT

C. Method of introducing ICT

D. Complementary efforts when introducing ICT

E. Characteristics of responding firms and person providing responses

Note: For details, see the questionnaire form (in Japanese).

● Publication of survey results:
- Part of the results were published in the "Economics Classroom" column in the Nikkei Keizai Shimbun (author: Tsutomu Miyagawa).
More detailed results and analyses were published in a report by the Japan Productivity Center, which collaborated in the survey (https://www.jpc-net.jp/research/rd/report/; in Japanese).
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Group III: Labor & Human Capital

Survey on the Business Management of Intensive Care Homes for the Elderly

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Aim of Survey

With the aging of Japan’s population, the demand for nursing care services for the elderly is rapidly increasing. Given that the demand for nursing care services is expected to grow further in the future, raising labor productivity in nursing care services is of paramount importance in order to respond to the already serious shortage of caregivers and keep the future burden on the government’s finances under control.

Against this background, we conducted the “Questionnaire Survey on the Business Management of Intensive Care Homes for the Elderly.” Falling under the Long-Term Care Insurance Act, such care homes are nursing care service providers that have a relatively large number of staff and are for elderly users requiring a high level of nursing care. The aim of the survey was to examine the link between the business management of such care homes and their performance (such as in terms of their labor productivity, job separation rate, use of information technology and robots, etc.)

Survey Outline

● Targets of the survey:

All establishments operating intensive care homes for the elderly in Tokyo, Kanagawa, Saitama, and Chiba prefectures (1,813 establishments)

● Survey method: Postal survey

● Survey period: January 2019

● Response rate: 11.5% (Number of responses: 208 establishments)

● Survey content:
- Survey items
1. Management Organization Score (MP1): Simple average of score for management philosophy and score for organizational reform
2. Management by Objectives Score (MP2): Simple average of score for setting of objectives for operating ratio and score for setting of objectives for services
3. Human Resource Management Score (MP3): Score for human resource management
- Items analyzed
1. Business management and labor productivity
2. Business management and job separation rate
3. Business management and use of IT and robots
4. Business management and time managers spend dealing with new tasks
5. Business management and share of elderly employees
Survey questionnaire[PDF]

● Publication based on this survey:

Inui, Tomohiko, Kazuyasu Kawasaki, Yukiko Ito, Tsutomu Miyagawa, and Toshiki Mano (2019). “Tokubetsu Yogo Rojin Homu no Manejimento to Pafomansu [The Management and Performance of Intensive Care Homes for the Elderly,” RIETI Discussion Paper Series 19-J049 (in Japanese).

https://www.rieti.go.jp/jp/publications/dp/19j049.pdf
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Group IV: Simultaneity of Production & Consumption

Online Survey of Changes in Economic Structure, Life, and Consumption

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Aim of survey

With Japan's economy continuing to grow at a low pace and labor shortages becoming more serious, improving the productivity of the service sector has become a major policy issue. Moreover, Japan's public faces a range of concerns about the future, including the sustainability of public finances and the social security system. The uncertainty surrounding the outlook for Japan's economy and economic policies may affect individuals' consumption and savings behavior and employment choices as well as economic growth.

Meanwhile, with the shift to a service economy continuing, various personal and household services, including childcare and nursing care, are being replaced by public services and market services. This is likely to bring about an increase in the amount of service production that is included in GDP and an increase in labor market participation. Moreover, while advances in artificial intelligence and robotics are expected to bring benefits such as the expansion of new markets and efficiency improvements in existing services, there is also deep concern that they may lead to a decrease in employment opportunities.

Against this background, the purpose of this survey is to empirically examine the outlook for the Japanese economy and people's lives, policy uncertainty and its impact, and views on the shift to a service economy and technological innovation.

Survey Outline

● Targets of the survey:
- About 10,000 men and women nationwide aged 20 and over.
- Survey participants were chosen based on stratified sampling using the composition of the population in terms of age groups (five groups: those in their 20s, 30s, 40s, 50s, and 60s and over), sex, and prefecture taken from the Population Census.
● Survey method:

Online survey of survey monitors maintained by a survey firm

● Survey period:

March 3 to 15, 2017

● Number of responses:

10,041 persons

● Survey content:

I. Income, consumption, outlook for the economy

II. Work-related questions

III. Shift to service economy and innovation

IV. Economic policies, people's lives and consumption

Survey questionnaire: https://www.rieti.go.jp/jp/projects/research_activity/economy2017/survey-sheet.pdf (in Japanese)

● Publications based on this survey:

Morikawa, Masayuki (2018). “Uncertainty over Working Schedules and Compensating Wage Differentials: From the Viewpoint of Labor Management,” RIETI Discussion Paper, 18-E-015.

Morikawa, Masayuki (2018). “Effects of Distance and Borders on International and Interregional Tourist Flows: A Micro-Gravity Analysis,” RIETI Discussion Paper, 18-E-021.

Morikawa, Masayuki (2018). “Long Commuting Time and the Benefits of Telecommuting,” RIETI Discussion Paper, 18-E-025.

Morikawa, Masayuki (2018). “Kitsuen Himan to Rodo Ichiba Seika [Smoking, Obesity, and Labor Market Performance],” RIETI Discussion Paper, 18-J-010 (in Japanese).
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