Analysis Of Female Employment And Its Economic Impact In Japan

Female employment has long been the focus of economists’ research,the development of female employment has a strong correlation with the economic growth and economic structure of one country.The situation of female employment development in different regions and countries has its own characteristics.Japan has a serious problem of low birth rate and aging population,which makes Japanese female employment has great significance to be studied.Japan’s low birth rate and population aging process started earlier and developed rapidly,which has long caused the problem of labor shortage.Even today,when machines are replacing human,labor shortages are bound to have a negative impact on a country’s economy.An important channel for Japan to fill the labor force gap is to promote female employment.In recent years,the development of female employment in Japan has achieved remarkable results,but problems coexist,which also makes the study of female employment in Japan and its economic impact become particularly important.This paper first reviews the development of Japanese female employment in the postwar period,and finds that there is a U-shaped relationship between Japanese female labor force participation and economic growth.Japanese female labor force participation rate and employment rate generally declined first then rose with economic growth,but there are fluctuations in the rising stage.Then,it concludes that the employment of Japanese women has the characteristics of continuous growth,concentration in the tertiary industry,informal employment and aging labor force.Secondly,the economic factors,which from the government,enterprises and family levels,affecting the employment of Japanese women are analyzed.At the government level,government’s fiscal and tax system recognizes the value of female housework but hinders female employment.In recent years,although the government has provided financial support to female employment,the deep-rooted consciousness of gender division of labor has not been shaken.At the enterprises level,loosening of the lifetime employment system in enterprises is one of the important reasons for the informalization of female labor force employment,while the decline of the annual service series system has an impact on the wage gap among female labor force.In addition,the long working hours system in enterprises makes it difficult for women to balance the relationship between family and work.At the family level,the contradiction between housework and social labor limits the employment of Japanese women.Thirdly,the influence on economic growth and economic structure of Japanese female employment are measured.This paper found that Japanese female employment has driven the economic growth.After empirical analysis,it is found that since the 1960 s,no matter how female labor participation in those days changed,an increase in the number of female workers led to GDP per capita growth next year,but after 2017 it grew less.This shows that not only the number of female labor force should be increased,but also the quality of female employment should be improved to promote the development of economy.The government and enterprises should increase but also pay attention to improving the quality of female employment.In addition to promoting economic growth,female employment in Japan has also optimized the economic structure,for example,promoted the transformation of the proportion of output value of the three major industries,alleviated the problem of female poverty and narrowed the gender income gap.Finally,the performance and problems of Japanese female employment are summarized,and the employment of Japanese women is compared with China as a mirror.Chinese female employment situation has gone worse after economic transition,our country should explore the good mechanism for mutual promotion of female employment and economic growth,guide enterprises’ fair treatment of the female labor force,improve the consciousness of men share the housework and child-care tasks,build housework value cognizance system.Efforts should be taken to improve quality and quantity of female employment and,in turn,stimulate gender dividend,let female employment do better for the economy.