Description

Both Japan and Korea are trying to boost female labor force participation (FLFP) as they face the
challenges of a rapidly aging population. Though FLFP has generally been on a rising trend, the
female labor force in both countries is skewed towards non-regular employment despite women’s
high education levels. This paper empirically examines what helps Japan and Korea to increase FLFP
by type (i.e., regular vs. non-regular employment), using the SVAR model. In so doing, we compare
these two Asian countries with two Nordic countries Norway and Finland. The main findings are: (i)
child cash allowances tend to reduce the proportion of regular female employment in Japan and
Korea, (ii) the persistent gender wage gap encourages more non-regular employment, (iii) a greater
proportion of regular female employment is associated with higher fertility, and (iv) there is a need
for more public spending on childcare for age 6-11 in Japan and Korea to help women continue to
work.

More publications in this series: Working Papers

More publications by: Yuko Kinoshita ; Fang Guo