Employment and labor policy response to the great East Japan earthquake: focus on the first year after the disaster

On March 11, 2011, a massive earthquake of magnitude 9.0 hit northeastern Japan off the Pacific coast, and an enormous tsunami struck the coast shortly afterward, claiming countless lives across a broad area of eastern Japan and devastating the social and economic infrastructure of the region. The disaster also triggered the serious accident at a nuclear power plant. Employment and labor were severely affected in the disaster-stricken area and elsewhere as well, and a great many problems remain unresolved today, though much stability has been regained as restoration and reconstruction progress. While the recovery is still far from complete as of this writing, this paper will primarily give an overview of the circumstances and characteristics of employment and labor immediately following the catastrophe and during the first year of reconstruction.