Figure 64: Status of continuous employment during pregnancy and birth of the first child by age at the time of the first child birth

○ The percentage of females who take a maternity leave without retiring at the time of birth of the first child has been increasing in recent years. 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100

Source: “Survey on the Way of Women's Working Style and Family Life” (2010) Japan Institute for Labour Policy and Training (Note) Women aged 30 to 44 at the time of the survey (2010) and those who were employed when they found that they were expecting their first child were surveyed.

## Figure 65: Factors that increase the labour force participation rate of married women in their 30s

○ Women who live with parents and those with a higher availability of nursery are contributing to the increased labour force participation rate of married women in their 30s.

○ Moreover, it is indicated that the effect of accumulated development of measures also contributed to the increase of the labour force participation rate of women in their 30s after 2005.

Elasticity of factors to the labour force participation rate of married women in their 30s

Source: Estimated by the Office of Counselor for Labour Policy, MHLW, based on the Population Census" (1950~2010) Statistics Bureau, Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications and "Report on Social Welfare Administration and Services" MHLW

(Note) 1) Estimation of the increase rate (elasticity) of married women's labour force participation rate when each factor increases by 1%.

2) Dummy of policy effects are the effects after 2005 to see the effects of advancement in measures to support the balance between occupational life and family life such as the Child Care and Family Care Leave Act.

3) "***" refers to 1% voluntary and "*" refers to 10% voluntary.

## (Toward the balance between work and nursing care)

As the aging of the population accelerates, the number of elderly people who require care is increasing. Whether it is possible to balance work and nursing care is a challenging issue. The majority of reasons why people who stopped working while they care for a family member left their job are related to the limited time: "they couldn't take or have difficulty in taking family care leave" or "they couldn't change the time to start/finish working." It is considered that many of them had to change or leave work against their will.

Many workers who take the responsibility of family care have worries in balancing work and nursing care such as work arrangements, information on care and financial problems.

According to Figure 66, of workers who are engaged in family care, the ratio of workers who wish to stop working is higher than that of workers who are not engaged in family care. However, the ratio is lower for both male and female workers if they take family-care leave, etc. Figure 67 shows support provided by company, which is considered necessary for workers to keep the balance between work and family care. It indicates that there are high demands for support during working hours, such as "a system in which workers decide the time of arriving and leaving at a company" and "a system that eliminates/reduces overtime work."

## (Elderly people's participation in labour and using their career)

In the society in which baby-boom generations (people who were born between 1947 and 1949) are in their late 60s and the pensionable age of the public pension scheme increased, measure to secure employment of elderly people in companies has been introduced and the number of elderly workers is increasing.

According to Figure 68, the labour force participation rate of people aged between 60 and 64 increased in 2007 and 2008 when the measure to secure employment of the elderly was made compulsory (made