Yuko NozakiHiroshima University
This study draws on data from the Japanese Panel Survey of Consumers (JPSC) to analyze the effect of education, job type, and time constraints on the motherhood wage penalty in Japan. This study is based upon two previous studies and pays close attention to the Japanese labor system, custom, and long working hours. Nozaki and Fukuda (2009) indicate that less educated and non-professional women suffer a wage penalty, while highly educated and professional women do not. For example, compared with holders of university degrees, less-educated women have a 34.6% of wage penalty. Nozaki and Fukuda also confirmed that the motherhood wage penalty is dependent on both the “age at first birth” and level of educational interaction. Compared with childless women with a university education, less-educated women experience a wage penalty regardless of motherhood. Childless women with a low educational level had a wage penalty of 32.4%, mothers had a penalty of 51.4%, and women with a late motherhood had a penalty of 67.9%. These results show that a woman’s education has a strong effect, with less-educated women more likely to suffer both a motherhood wage penalty and a late motherhood wage penalty. On the other hand, Nozaki (2010) predicts that women with university degrees will not suffer from any motherhood wage penalty, but they tend not to give birth. The phenomenon indicates that it is very hard to achieve a balance between having a family or working following obtaining a higher education. In developed countries, highly educated and professional women enjoy a work-life balance (WLB) by getting work flexibility to go along with the strength of their career (Anderson et al., 2002). What explains the discrepancies in the case of Japan?
My research aims to identify demographic (e.g., fertility behavior) and workplace factors (e.g., flexibility of working hours) that influence the extent to which women of different educational backgrounds and job types use available WLB initiatives. My study confirmed that university graduates and professional women who are employed by large companies are strongly affected by workplace customs and are likely to hold jobs that not only require their presence at work, but offer little flexibility. I conclude that the existence of time constraints, that is, long working hours are the strongest obstacle in respect to WLB initiatives. Family-supportive time management may provide some of the necessary flexibility to meet external commitments and model good WLB. These findings imply that Japanese women do not gain any advantage in the employment environment from their human capital accumulation; moreover, this situation causes a loss of productivity in the Japanese labor market.