Parental leave, Universal childcare and Female Employment

2017 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 15K17071
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (B)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Public finance/Public economy
• Research Institution: The University of Tokyo
• Principal Investigator: Asai Yukiko 東京大学, 社会科学研究所, 特別研究員 (10588172)
• Research Collaborator: YAMAGUCHI Shintaro マクマスター大学, 経済学部, 准教授
• Project Period (FY): 2015-04-01 – 2018-03-31
• Keywords: 女性就業 / 保育 / 子どもの発達

Outline of Final Research Achievements

This research has evaluated policies implemented by the Japanese government aimed to encourage women to remain in the workforce around childbirth. My research focuses on two types of these family policies: (1) parental leave, and (2) universal childcare. My work on parental leave asks whether increases in cash benefits increase job continuity of new mothers. I exploit legal changes that have made parental leave more generous over time. In the end, I find little effects of these increases in generosity on job continuity. My work on universal childcare examines the relationship of local childcare availability on female employment and childhood developmental outcomes. I find modest effect on employment outcomes, substantial substitution between childcare and grandparental care, and some mixed effects on medium-run childhood development. A key theme in this research is that substantial barriers continue to exist that limit the intended effects of these policies on female employment.

Free Research Field

労働経済学