Female Labor Supply in Japan: Implications of the Informal Sector for Labor Force Participation and Hours of Work

Abstract

JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.. University of Wisconsin Press and The Board of Regents of the University of WisconsinSystem are collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to The Journal of Human Resources. ABSTRACT This paper extends previous work on labor supply in Japan by treating the simultaneous labor force participation and hours of work decisions for Japanese wives, both employees and family workers. It estimates a trichotomous participation model for a sample from the Tokyo Metropolitan Area, and then estimates hours and wage equations, and aggregate labor supply elasticities. The empirical results generally confirm the economic model's theoretical predictions. Although the estimated aggregate wage and income elasticities for employees are somewhat higher than previous estimates for the U.S., they are of the same order of magnitude. However, the level of the husband's income has an unexpected positive effect on the annual hours that employees work and the elasticities estimated for family workers are usually large.

Cointegration and causality between fertility and female labor participation in Taiwan: A multivariate approach

“…Unlike other Western industrialized countries, the informal sector in Taiwan may allow Women to engage in market activities. They can work on a family farm, in a small family-owned business, or even produce goods at home for market sale while at the same time caring for children and performing other household duties [Hill, 1988].…”

Fertility, Health and Female Labour Force Participation in Urban Cameroon

“…These include economic (that is the labour market structure), individual (skills, marital status, labour force attachment, incentives and career expectations), and household characteristics (structure, domestic workload, presence and number of children). Many studies aimed at analysing trends (Chase, 1995;Bonin and Euwals, 2002), economic and social determinants of labour force decision (Benjamin, 1992;Hausman, 1980;Hill 1988Hill , 1994Saget, 1999;Fong and Lokshin, 2000) either at micro or macro level (See Griliches and Intriligator 1986 for a review). Here, we concentrate on the influence of individual and household characteristics on female labour force participation.…”

From Mill Town to Board Room: The Rise of Women's Paid Labor

“…In Japan women's participation rates have been relatively high because a large fraction of the female labor force (21 percent in 1984 compared to 1 percent in the United States) consists of family workers (Hill 1988). Japanese participation rates are now lower than they were in 1960 because of the decline of family enterprises.…”