care by grandparents, so that the provision of nursery school places should be an effective means of raising employment among mothers. That being said, the findings also highlight that when considering the effects of the provision of nursery school places, it is important to keep in mind that there is a substitutive relationship with private childcare arrangements.

Chapter 6, titled “Childcare Leave Benefits and Female Employment,” investigates the effects of the increase in childcare leave benefits in 2001 by comparing the rate of women who continued to work after childbirth before and after the increase in benefits. Childcare leave benefits, which are paid from unemployment insurance, were launched in 1995, and basic childcare leave benefits and work resumption benefits together initially amounted to 25% of the average wage a woman earned before giving birth. In 2001, these benefits were raised to a combined 40% of the wage before giving birth. Since it is unlikely that women will have delayed giving birth to take advantage of the increase, the increase in benefits can be regarded as exogenous to mothers’ employment, so that it is possible to estimate the effects of the policy. Using data from the Employment Status Survey and dividing women into those who gave birth before and those who gave birth after the change, the authors find no evidence that the increase in childcare leave benefits led to a significant increase in the rate of women who continued to work after childbirth, confirming once again that it is difficult for women to combine childcare and work.

Chapter 7, titled “The Desire to Work of the Middle-aged and Elderly and Determinants of Their Employment Status,” examines middle-aged and elderly individuals’ desire to work and the factors affecting whether they actually continue to do so, using the Ministry of Health and Welfare’s Longitudinal Survey of Middle-aged and Elderly Persons. The analysis shows that among those engaged in a professional occupation show a strong desire to work and many continue to do so even at an advanced age, while those who have been employed at the same company for more than 20 years and/or those working at a large firm show a lower desire to continue to work. Additional analyses taking the effects of home-ownership, whether someone has a housing loan, and savings into account indicate that the more difficult it is for individuals to cover their living expenses in old age through pensions and other means, the stronger is the desire to work. The desire to work has a strong effect on whether individuals carry on working in practice: the percentage of individuals continuing to work is twice as high for those saying they “want to work as long as possible” as for those saying they do not want to carry on working. Moreover, the effect remains strong even when controlling for the past employment status, home-ownership, the presence of a housing loan, and savings. Meanwhile, many of those giving up work despite wanting to work do so for health reasons. These findings suggest that, in order to increase the number of people who want to continue to work when they get older, what matters in addition to financial incentives, is to raise awareness