| Summary: | <p>This thesis is a comparative study of labour market institutions and actors in Japan and China. It focuses particularly on an increasingly influential, yet little-studied labour market actor: for-profit employment agencies. Fieldwork conducted in both countries reveals the development and influence of employment agencies. By combining the views of historical institutionalism, actor-centred institutionalism, and compressed development, this thesis traces the co-evolution of employment policies, employment practices, and employment agencies. Key findings are the following:</p></br>
<p>(1) Overall, Japanese and Chinese employment agencies followed surprisingly a similar timing and pattern of evolution, although changes have been more drastic and uneven in China than in Japan.</p>
<p>(2) The motivation to promote flexible employment was more aligned among labour market actors in China than in Japan, which accelerated labour market change.</p>
<p>(3) Employment agencies have been most active in providing ‘non-regular’ workers in ‘external’ labour markets, but in the past decade, they have become involved in core corporate strategies (i.e. ‘internal’ labour markets), more significantly in China than in Japan.</p>
<p>(4) The growing policy influence of employment agencies is shown by their constant re-interpretation and evasion of regulations, which has prompted various reactive policy changes in both countries.</p></br>
<p>Comparison of such co-evolution and influence in the two countries will reveal historical, geopolitical, and socioeconomic contexts that contribute to the change and continuity of labour market institutions and actors, and identify factors that contribute to unequal labour market outcomes and precarious employment.</p>
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