2018 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

Empirical Analysis of Work-Life Balance Policies and Income Distribution among Married Couples in Japan

Research Project

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Project/Area Number	15K03517
Research Category	Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
Allocation Type	Multi-year Fund
Section	一般
Research Field	Public finance/Public economy
Research Institution	Nagoya City University
Principal Investigator	Morita Yoko 名古屋市立大学, 大学院経済学研究科, 教授 (00326159)
Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha)	坂本和靖群馬大学, 社会情報学部, 准教授 (40470108)
Project Period (FY)	2015-04-01 – 2019-03-31
Keywords	所得格差 / 女性就業 / 夫妻所得 / 階層移動 / ライフコース / ワーク・ライフ・バランス / 育児休業
Outline of Final Research Achievements	This study analyzes the impact of continued post-childbirth employment by married women on married couples' income mobility, using Wave 11-24 (2003－2016) of the Japanese Panel Survey of Consumers. The findings are as follows: first, continuous employment or taking childcare leave makes a couple’s income transition upward, and the upward effect is larger as the husband’s income is higher. Second, however, by taking the endogeneity of women’s income level and continuous employment or taking childcare leave into account, the upward effect could only be observed in couples where the husband earned a high income. Third, the upward effect expired within 10 years following the first child’s birth. These findings suggest that work-life balance policies aiming to support continued postpartum employment by married women have possibilities to increase income inequality among married couples in the future.
Free Research Field	労働経済学
Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements	本稿の学術的意義は、近年「単独世帯」が増加し全世帯の3割強を占めているが、まだ約半数は「夫婦のみ」や「夫婦と子どものみ」などからなる核家族世帯から構成されている。妻の所得が夫婦単位の所得格差に対し、どのような影響を持つかを精査することは、社会全体の所得格差の解明においても必要な検証であることである。社会的意義は、近年日本でも育児休業制度などのワーク・ライフ・バランス施策が企業や社会において普及しつつある。ワーク・ライフ・バランス施策の目的の1つは女性の継続的な就労支援である。本研究により、ワーク・ライフ・バランス施策の意義を所得分配の観点から検討することができる。