Akiko Sato Oishi

SOCIAL SECURITY REFORMS AND LABOUR FORCE PARTICIPATION OF THE ELDERLY IN JAPAN

We examine how social security programs have affected the labor force participation (LFP) of the elderly over the past forty years in Japan. Using publicly available data, we construct forwardlooking incentive measures for inducing retirement, to ascertain the actual changes in the generosity of the programs and to explore the impact of the reforms on the labor supply of the elderly. Our regression analysis shows that the LFP of the elderly is significantly sensitive to the measures, and our counter-historical simulations show that since 1985, social security reforms have significantly encouraged the elderly to remain longer in the labor force.

Conclusion: Agenda and Action Beyond Gendered Care and Migration

This chapter summarizes major findings from each chapter and explains how care arrangements in a private family interrelate to both national and international politics and economics in a globalized world. Specifically, this chapter focuses on the gendered nature of the state and society that makes women, either locals or migrants, take on a disproportionate share of care work. It then discusses general policy options to protect care workers’ human rights and enhance caregivers’ well-being.

Introduction: Situating Gender, Care, and Migration in East Asia

This chapter contextualizes the issues discussed in this volume by first outlining the similar ways in which care has been transformed across East Asia. These include the unprecedented degree of demographic change relating to low fertility rates and population aging, increasing numbers of women entering the labor market, changing forms of families, and the expansion of paid care. It then elaborates divergent strategies through which provisions of care have become commodified, including the introduction of migrant care workers, who have emerged at the forefront of the uneven process of globalization. Finally, it presents the summary of the remaining chapters.

Effect of Mothers’ Nonstandard Work Hours on Children’s Wellbeing in Japan

Despite concerns over inequality of children’s well-being, an increasing proportion of mothers work nonstandard hours. However, the effects of such work on the well-being of children is poorly understood in Japan. In the present study, analysis of time use data confirmed a rising proportion of mothers working nonstandard hours in the period of 2001–2006. Single mothers were found to be more likely to work nonstandard hours than their married counterparts. While educational aspirations for their children affect a single mother’s decision to work nonstandard hours, economic hardship was identified as a major determinant for married mothers. In Japan, a mother’s time spent with her children and her frequency of having dinner together with her children decrease if she works in the evening, and the magnitude of the decrease was found to be larger for single mothers. These findings suggest that prevalence of nonstandard work hours among mothers may have detrimental effects on their time spent with their children.