Temporary Help Service (THS) employment has expanded rapidly worldwide, yet the potential market power of THS firms operating as two-sided platforms remains understudied due to limited micro-level data on fees and wages. This paper examines platform competition in Japan’s THS industry using a unique administrative census dataset between 2010 and 2014 to study their pricing decisions and its welfare implications. The reduced-form analysis reveals that increased competition among THS establishments reduces fees, wages and margins of THS significantly. To explore the mechanism behind, we build a two-sided market model with random utility. Comparative statistics and counterfactual simulation is implemented by using numerical methods and simulation data to understand how parameters of interest and regulation affect the market outcomes under different market structure.
| Date of Award | 2025 |
|---|
| Original language | English |
|---|
| Awarding Institution | - The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology
|
|---|
| Supervisor | Kohei SUNADA (Supervisor) |
|---|
Platform Competition of Temporary Help Service
SONG, D. (Author). 2025
Student thesis: Master's thesis