Column  Finance and the Social Security System  2018.06.21

【Aging, safety net and fiscal crisis in Japan】No.132: Employment Rate of Mothers after Childbirth

In this column series, Yukihiro Matsuyama, Research Director at CIGS introduces the latest information about aging, safety net and fiscal crisis in Japan with data of international comparison.
Employment

In Column No.97, I demonstrated a sharp increase in the employment rate of females aged 25 to 39. In May 2018, the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare released statistics to reconfirm this fact. Figure 1 shows how mothers who gave birth in 2010 returned to work until their child turned six years old and entered elementary school. Of mothers who decided to give birth a year later, the percentage of those who were working was 62.0%, of which full-time, part-time, and the self-employed were 38.0%, 19.3%, and 4.7%, respectively. This is 7.5% higher than 54.5% (= 32.5 + 16.3 + 5.7) of mothers who bore a child in 2001 (Figure 2). The employment rate of mothers when their child became six increased from 55.8% (= 16.9 + 30.1 + 8.8) of mothers who bore a child in 2001 to 67.2% (= 26.0 + 34.1 + 7.1) of mothers who bore a child in 2010. Additionally, among mothers who were full-time employed before childbirth, the percentage of those who maintained full-time employment until their child became six years old also increased from 28.9% to 40.7%.


Figure 1: Employment rate of mothers of children born in 2010
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Source: Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare


Figure 2: Employment rate of mothers of children born in 2001
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Source: Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare