In Japan, the turnover rate declined between two World Wars. This has been explained by the introduction of mass production technology and the change of required firm-specific skills, especially in big firms of heavy industries. This paper tries to explain those phenomena not by the technology or firm-specific skills but by the wage scheme they had introduced. Picking up the case of the silk reeling industry in Suwa District, this paper concludes that wage systems such as the Grade Wage System (tokyu-tingin-seido) had succeeded in suppressing turnover. This hypothesis is tested by the Book of Calculation (Seishi-keisan-bo) which is kept in the Cocoon and Silk Museum in Okaya.
