Women's Employment in Japan and the Timing of Marriage and Childbirth

This paper uses Japanese panel data to examine empirically the effect of changes in labour market conditions and income in the timing of marriage, childbirth and employment. The main findings are that a high unemployment rate at the time of graduation tends to speed up the timing of marriage and childbirth, whereas an increase in the unemployment rate in the years after graduation delays the timing of marriage and childbirth. These results suggest that in Japan decisions are more likely to be based upon major changes such as those in employment opportunities than on fluctuations in the wage rate. JEL Classification Numbers: J1, J2.