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Has improved daycare accessibility increased Japan's maternal employment rate? Municipal evidence from 2000-2010

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  • Shuhei Nishitateno
  • Masato Shikata

Abstract

Over the past decades, female labor force participation in Japan has continued to expand, accompanied by an improvement in daycare accessibility. This paper quantifies the daycare effects on employment of mothers with preschool children, analyzing newly constructed municipality-level data covering 1,758 municipalities for 2000, 2005, and 2010. The results suggest that 5%-11% of the increase in maternal employment rate during 2000 to 2010 was attributable to the improvement in daycare accessibility. However, the daycare effects on maternal employment are quite limited compared with those on enrollments at licensed daycare centers. Our new evidence suggests that such discrepancy could emanate from the fact that better access to licensed daycare centers encouraged working mothers to switch from kindergartens.

Suggested Citation

  • Shuhei Nishitateno & Masato Shikata, 2017. "Has improved daycare accessibility increased Japan's maternal employment rate? Municipal evidence from 2000-2010," Departmental Working Papers 2017-05, The Australian National University, Arndt-Corden Department of Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:pas:papers:2017-05
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    Cited by:

    1. Asakawa, Shinsuke & Sasaki, Masaru, 2020. "Can Childcare Benefits Increase Maternal Employment? Evidence from Childcare Benefits Policy in Japan," IZA Discussion Papers 13589, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    2. Nishitateno, Shuhei & Shikata, Masato, 2017. "Has improved daycare accessibility increased Japan's maternal employment rate? Municipal evidence from 2000–2010," Journal of the Japanese and International Economies, Elsevier, vol. 44(C), pages 67-77.
    3. Yamaguchi, Shintaro & Asai, Yukiko & Kambayashi, Ryo, 2018. "Effects of subsidized childcare on mothers’ labor supply under a rationing mechanism," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 55(C), pages 1-17.
    4. Daiji Kawaguchi & Keisuke Kawata & Takahiro Toriyabe, 2021. "An Assessment of Abenomics from the Labor Market Perspective," Asian Economic Policy Review, Japan Center for Economic Research, vol. 16(2), pages 247-278, July.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    maternal employment; female labor market; daycare centers; kindergartens; Japan;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J13 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Fertility; Family Planning; Child Care; Children; Youth
    • J18 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Public Policy
    • J21 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Labor Force and Employment, Size, and Structure

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