What causes low female labor supply?: separating the effect of culture from economic& social factors using large-scale data from Japan

2022 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 19K13733
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Early-Career Scientists
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Review Section: Basic Section 07050:Public economics and labor economics-related
• Research Institution: Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry
• Principal Investigator: Liu Yang 独立行政法人経済産業研究所, 研究グループ, 研究員 (50635084)
• Project Period (FY): 2019-04-01 – 2023-03-31
• Keywords: 労働参加 / 女性 / 経済・社会要因 / 文化要因

Outline of Final Research Achievements

This study examines Japanese female labor force participation (LFP) applying the epidemiological approach in economics (EAE), which identifies the roles of cultural and economic factors in determining economic outcomes using native and immigrant data. Immigrant situations of employment and family in Japan are also carefully examined in the analysis. We find that the probability of married female LFP of long-term immigrants is significantly higher than that of natives, controlling for human capital, family, and region of residence. The decomposition results show that our estimation model successfully explains 93.6% of female LFP difference between natives and long-term immigrants, with culture having the largest contribution, greater than that of the women’s own education and that of their husbands. The estimation results provide empirical evidence that the LFP decision is significantly determined by both economic and cultural factors.

Free Research Field

労働経済学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

本研究は、新しい手法で日本における女性の労働参加の決定要因を分析し、経済・社会的要因と文化的要因を識別するアプローチを日本のデータに適用する初の研究である。
社会的意義として、女性就労を促進するには、経済・社会環境の改善のみならず、人々の意識に関する文化の役割も重要であることが示された。「女性活躍」政策や、『女性版骨太方針2022』にあるような、「女性の経済的自立」、「男性の家庭・地域社会における活躍」に関する女性の労働市場参加を評価する社会的価値観を普及することが、女性就労の促進につながることについて、実証的なエビデンスを提供した。