Foreign–native wage gap and tasks: Evidence from the Japanese labor market

Yasuhiro Doi and Kensuke Suzuki

Economics Letters, 2025, vol. 255, issue C

Abstract: This paper provides novel empirical evidence on the foreign–native wage gap in the Japanese labor market, examining the role of tasks. By leveraging government micro-level data and the Japanese version of O*NET, we construct task scores à la Acemoglu and Autor (2011) at a detailed occupational level. We then estimate the foreign–native wage gap in the spirit of Mincer (1974). Unconditionally, foreign workers earn 27% less than native workers; 82% of this gap is explained by observable characteristics. Tasks account for roughly one-third of the remaining unexplained gap, suggesting that foreign workers are assigned to lower-wage tasks, typically manual and routine tasks.

Keywords: Foreign–native wage gap; Task-based approach; Japanese labor market (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: F22 J31 J61 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:ecolet:v:255:y:2025:i:c:s0165176525004082

DOI: 10.1016/j.econlet.2025.112571

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