Column 　Finance and the Social Security System 　2019.07.17

【Aging, safety net and fiscal crisis in Japan】No.201:There are large interindustry differences in the percentage of employees who acquire childcare leave.

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
Yukihiro MATSUYAMA
Yukihiro MATSUYAMA
Research Director

As explained in Column No. 135, the percentage of employees who acquire childcare leave is defined as follows:


＜Molecule＞
[The number of people who acquired or planned to acquire childcare leave]
＜Denominator＞
[[The number of females (or males whose spouses gave birth) who gave birth between October 1st of two years ago and September 30th of the previous year]

The Abe administration has committed its increase as a measure designed to raise the birthrate. However, statistics released by the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare in June 2019 indicate that the policy goal is not likely achievable in the near future.

As shown in Figure 1, the percentage of females using childcare leave decreased from 83.2% in 2017 to 82.2% in 2018, but improved from 5.14% to 6.16% among males over the same period. As shown in Figures 2 and 3, there are very large gaps between industries.

Figure 1. Percentage of employees using childcare leave

No201_fig1.png

Source: Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare


Figure 2. Percentage of female employees using childcare leave by industry in 2018

No201_fig2.png

Source: Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare


Figure 3. Percentage of male employees using childcare leave by industry in 2018

No201_fig3.png

Source: Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare