2022 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

The Medium to Long Term Effects on Women's Wages by Taking Maternity Leave and Returning to Work

Research Project

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Project/Area Number	19K20880
Project/Area Number (Other)	18H05678 (2018)
Research Category	Grant-in-Aid for Research Activity Start-up
Allocation Type	Multi-year Fund (2019) Single-year Grants (2018)
Review Section	0107:Economics, business administration, and related fields
Research Institution	National Institute of Population and Social Security Research (2022) The University of Tokyo (2018-2019)
Principal Investigator	Yokoyama Maki 国立社会保障・人口問題研究所, 企画部, 研究員 (00826852)
Project Period (FY)	2018-08-24 – 2023-03-31
Keywords	家族政策 / 就業継続 / 両立支援策
Outline of Final Research Achievements	The purpose of this study was to clarify the impact of the use of maternity leave and subsequent use of the shorter working hour system on women's employment continuation and wages. It is expected that the use of those systems is going to become an increasingly common pattern of employment continuation for women. The analysis revealed that those who continue to work after using the shorter working hour system are those with relatively higher wages. At the same time, 40-50% of the women who gave birth did not benefit from the work-life balance support measures. Even if they had been employed the year before giving birth, a high percentage of them left their jobs without using the measure if it was a non-regular job. In the international comparison, the current status of gender equality in Japan and Singapore was overviewed, with a particular focus on Singapore's family policy in the economic and political spheres.
Free Research Field	労働経済学
Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements	これまで国内における既存研究では育児休業制度取得の影響に主眼が置かれていたが、短時間勤務制度に着目したことで、今後益々一般的になると考えられる正社員女性の育児休業と短時間勤務制度を利用した場合の就業継続の形に関する研究蓄積に貢献したと言える。日星比較においては、特に政治・経済分野で女性の社会進出が進んでいない日本の現状を鑑み、同分野で女性の進出がめざましいアジアにおける先進国であるシンガポールが採用してきた家族政策、労働政策について概観することで、日本の男女共同参画に対して一定の知見を提供することができたと考える。