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The Effect of Work-family Balance Policy on Childbirth and Women's Work

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  • Mizuochi, Masaaki
  • 水落, 正明

Abstract

This study examines the effect of Japan's 2005 work-family legislation?the Act on Advancement of Measures to Support Raising Next-Generation Children? on childbirth and women's job continuity. This Act requires firms to support their employees in bearing and rearing children. In particular, it helps working women to continue their careers, thereby reducing the opportunity cost of having children and boosting childbirth. Although the Act requires large firms to support their employees in this regard, it merely recommends that smalland medium-sized firms do so. In consequence, it potentially has greater influence on employees of large firms than on those of small- and medium-sized firms. Using this quasiexperimental condition, we determine the Act's effect by comparing data from before and after its implementation in firms of various sizes. Difference-in-differences estimation results demonstrate that the Act has a positive effect on the joint probability of childbirth and women's job continuity

Suggested Citation

  • Mizuochi, Masaaki & 水落, 正明, 2012. "The Effect of Work-family Balance Policy on Childbirth and Women's Work," Discussion Paper Series 575, Institute of Economic Research, Hitotsubashi University.
    • Handle: RePEc:hit:hituec:575
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    File URL: https://hermes-ir.lib.hit-u.ac.jp/hermes/ir/re/23134/DP575.pdf
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Childbirth; Women’s job continuity; Work-family balance policy; Quasi-experiment;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J13 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Fertility; Family Planning; Child Care; Children; Youth
    • J18 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Public Policy
    • J22 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Time Allocation and Labor Supply

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