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Lessons from the Rise of Women’s Labor Force Participation in Japan

Jay Shambaugh, Ryan Nunn and Becca Portman

Brookings Institution, 2017

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Economists Jay Shambaugh, Ryan Nunn and Becca Portman analyze what spurs women to join and remain in the workforce. As public policy has raised Japan’s employment rate for women, the authors make a robust case for similar measures that might help address the US’s declining rate of female labor participation. While the study does not delve into the cultural forces that sway women’s job decisions, getAbstract believes that it nonetheless adds notably to the field of gender economics and recommends its expert findings to policy makers and executives.

Take-Aways

Japan experienced growth in the participation rate of women in its workforce from 2000 to 2016. In contrast, the labor participation rate of women in the United States peaked in 2000 and had slightly decreased by 2016.
Demographic and educational factors played only a small part in both countries’ labor force dynamics between 2000 and 2016.
The quality of women’s employment in Japan has not improved to the same degree as their absolute rate of employment.

About the Authors

Jay Shambaugh is a senior fellow in economic studies at the Brookings Institution, where Ryan Nunn is a fellow and Becca Portman is a senior research assistant.

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