Graphic 59 Women's Ideal Course of Life

(Note) 1 Survey conducted with 18-34 unmarried women. Other and unknown population omitted.

2 Full-time homemaker: Women who resign when they get married and/or have children and never resume working.

Re-employment: Women who resign when they get married and/or have children, but resume working once the children are grown.

Combination: Get married and have children but also continue to work.

DINKS: Get married but do not have children and continue working.

Work and not marry: Work continually and not get married.

Source) Developed by the MLIT from: IPSS "Birth Trends Survey (Nation-wide Survey Regarding Marriage and Child Bearing) (Survey of Single People)"

Graphic 60 Women's Course of Life Schedule

(Note) 1 Survey conducted with 18-34 unmarried women. Other and unknown population omitted.

2 Full-time homemaker: Women who resign when they get married and/or have children and never resume working.

Re-employment: Women who resign when they get married and/or have children, but resume working once the children are grown.

Combination: Get married and have children but also continue to work.

DINKS: Get married but do not have children and continue working.

Work and not marry: Work continually and not get married.

Source) Developed by the MLIT from: IPSS "Birth Trends Survey (Nation-wide Survey Regarding Marriage and Child Bearing) (Survey of Single People)"

(Percentage of Women Working after Getting Married is Rising, Percentage of Women Working after Having a Child Remains Level)

Until recently, many women who worked usually resigned to get married/have child(ren)/raise child(ren). Even if women decided to work while raising a family, usually they would find a part-time job that fits around the family schedule. Lately though, as the employment rate of women continues to rise, how has women's employment situation changed if analyzed by life stage?

When looking at the labor force participation rate of women in Japan by age group, there is a significant dip in labor force participation rates of

(Note) 1 “Labor Force Participation Rate” refers to percentage of working women within total population of people over 15 years old that are part of the labor force (employed people + unemployed people).

Source) Developed by the MLIT from: MIC "Labor Force Survey"

women in their late 20's to 30's—right around the time many women get married and/or have children—creating an M-curve on the graph. Though this M-curve dip is still observable in recent graphs, it has started rising over the years. This is thought to be due to rising numbers of women that are unmarried or marry later in life, age at which women marry or have children, and changes in the trend of women resigning to get married and/or have children.

Within the M-curve, as the number of women who choose to pursue higher education rises, the rate of labor force participation is dropping for women in the 15-19 years old age group. The values of the M-curve dip are as follows for women aged 25-29 years old: 42.6% in 1975, 50.6% in 1985. The dip value was 53.7% in 1995, but occurred in the age group of 30-34 years old, and in 2011 the dip moved to the 35-39 years old age group, with 67%. This points to the affect of the recent trend in women getting married and having children later on in their life. The reasons for the labor force participation rate for women aged 25-29 years old, and aged 30-34 years old rising may be attributed to the increasing numbers of women who graduate university and find employment, unmarried women who continue to work long-term in