Change in Time Spent on Childcare and Work among Japanese women and Childcare Policy

2022 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 18K01672
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Review Section: Basic Section 07050:Public economics and labor economics-related
• Research Institution: Kwansei Gakuin University
• Principal Investigator: Shikata Masato 関西学院大学, 総合政策学部, 准教授 (70526441)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): 西立野 修平 関西学院大学, 総合政策学部, 准教授 (20734007)
• Project Period (FY): 2018-04-01 – 2023-03-31
• Keywords: 女性就業 / 両立支援 / 所得格差 / 非正規雇用

Outline of Final Research Achievements

The purpose of our study is to examine the policy effects on women's employment and the resulting spillover effects on income inequality. As the main research findings, Shikata (2020) showed that despite the increase in the employment rate of married women from the 1990s to the 2000s, the percentage of couples where both spouses were in regular employment did not increase because of the expansion of non-regular employment among married women. As a result, the income inequality did not increase. Next, Shikata (2022) analyzed the impact of the increase in the age for receiving pension benefits and the revision of the Act on Stabilization of Employment of Elderly Persons on the employment of elderly women. The analysis shows that the increase in the age for receiving pension benefits did not increase the likelihood of older women continuing to work until the 2012 revision of the Act, and after the revision non-regular employment increased.

Free Research Field

労働経済

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

本研究の分析結果から女性の就業継続に関する政策動向について以下のことが指摘できるだろう。まず、両立支援の促進により女性の就業率の上昇が期待される一方、高所得カップルの増加により格差拡大が懸念されるが、本研究の分析からは、1990年代から2000年代まで、有配偶女性ではフルタイム正規雇用は拡大しておらず、また、夫婦間の所得格差も拡大していないことが示唆される。次に、年金受給開始年齢が引き上げられた高齢女性の就業率が高まったものの、その多くが非正規雇用によるものであり、また、失業も生じていることから、労働政策では十分に対応できていない可能性が示唆される。