Can women save Japan? - Steinberg, Chad (International Monetary Fund, 2012)
Title from PDF title page (IMF Web site, viewed Oct. 22, 2012). - "Asia and Pacific Department.". - "October 2012."
Japan's potential growth rate is steadily falling with the aging of its population. This paper explores the extent to which raising female labor participation can help slow this trend. Using a cross-country database we find that smaller families, higher female education, and lower marriage rates are associated with much of the rise in women's aggregate participation rates within countries over time, but that policies are likely increasingly important for explaining differences across countries. Raising female participation could provide an important boost to growth, but women face two hurdles in participating in the workforce in Japan. First, few working women start out in career-track positions, and second, many women drop out of the workforce following childbirth. To increase women's attachment to work Japan should consider policies to reduce the gender gap in career positions and to provide better support for working mothers
Includes bibliographical references
Cover; Contents; I. Introduction; Figures; 1. Demographic Change (1980-2040); 2. Working-age Population Change (1950-2050); 3. Immigration and Female Labor Participation; 4. Real GDP: Policy Scenario with Higher Female Participation; II. Explaining Differences in FLP Rates across OECD Countries; 5. FLP Distribution Across 22 Countries; 6. Difference by Gender in Prime-age Labor Participation Rate; A. Empirical Results: The Role of Demographics; Tables; 1. Gap between FLP and MLP, and Demographic Variables; 7. Demographic Variables and FLP Changes (1970-2007)
B. Empirical Results Continued: The Role of Policies2. Change Over Time in Number of Children and Education Effects; 8. Ratio of Demographic Variables SDs in 2005 to 1980 SDs; 3. Effects on FLP by One S.D. Change of Each Variable; 9. Marginal Effects of Family Allowance and Tax Wedge; III. Why Is Japan Different?; 10. FLP-MLP Gap vs. Childcare per Child; 11.1 FLP vs. Children per Woman (1980); 11.2 FLP vs. Children per Woman (2008); 12. Children per Woman vs. Childcare per Child (2007); IV. Women to the Rescue: Policies to Raise FLP in Japan; A. Hurdle 1: Employment and Promotion Policies