Flexibility, Social Norms, and Gender Gaps in Japan
June 7, 2023
Why is the gender wage gap large in Japan?
Why is the fraction of part-time workers large for women in Japan?
In Japanese statistics, a definition is used: Regular and Non-regular jobs
Regular | Non-Regular | |
---|---|---|
Contract | Permanent | Temporary |
Hours (week) | 40/40+ | Lower and Dispersed |
Wage | High | Low |
In JPSED,
Goldin (2014) defines the two types of jobs by earning schedule
These characteristics correspond to Regular and Non-regular jobs! Regression
Bertrand, Kamenica, and Pan (2015)
Japanese Data
Description | Gap | Men | Women | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Partcipation | Participation rate | 0.27 | 98% | 70% |
Ocuupation | Fraction of regular workers | 0.59 | 89% | 32% |
Labor Hours | Mean of log weekly working hours | 0.49 | 44.2h | 20.3h |
Wage | Mean of log hourly wage | 0.76 | 2958 JPY | 1534 JPY |
Data: married, 25-59 aged in JPSED2016-2020 |
\[ \max_{h_m, h_f, T_m, T_f, j_m, j_f} U = \log c + \gamma \log H(1 - h_m - T_m, 1 - h_f - T_f) - \delta \mathbb{1}\{e_m < e_f\} \]
subject to
\[\begin{aligned} c &= e(h_m, j_m) + e(h_f, j_f) \\ T &= T_m + T_f \end{aligned} \]
\(H(\cdot)\) : Joint leisure function
\(e(h, j)\) : Earning
\(T\) : Home hours requirement
\(\delta\) : Utility cost
Each husband and wife is endowed job specific productivity:
\[ \begin{pmatrix}a_{m, R} \\ a_{f, R} \\ a_{m, NR} \\ a_{f, NR}\end{pmatrix} \sim \log\mathcal{N}\left(\begin{pmatrix}0 \\ 0 \\ \mu_{NR} \\ \mu_{NR}\end{pmatrix}, \begin{pmatrix} \sigma^2 & \rho_{mf}\sigma^2 & \rho_{R, NR}\sigma^2 & \rho_{R, NR}\rho_{mf} \sigma^2 \\ \cdot & \sigma^2 & \rho_{R, NR}\rho_{mf} \sigma^2 & \rho_{R, NR} \sigma^2 \\ \cdot & \cdot & \sigma^2 & \rho_{mf} \sigma^2 \\ \cdot & \cdot & \cdot & \sigma^2 \end{pmatrix}\right) \]
No Gender Difference in Productivity
Regular Jobs
\[ e(h, R) = \begin{cases} a_R h^{1 + \theta} & h < \bar{h} \\ a_R \left(\bar{h}^{1 + \theta} + \lambda_{R} \bar{h}^{\theta}(h - \bar{h})\right) & h > \bar{h} \end{cases} \]
Non-regular Jobs
\[ e(h, NR) = \begin{cases} a_{NR} h & h \le \bar{h} \\ a_{NR} \left(\bar{h} + \lambda_{NR} (h - \bar{h})\right) & h > \bar{h} \end{cases} \]
\[ H = \left(\nu(1 - h_m - T_m)^{\xi} + (1 - \nu)(1 - h_f - T_f)^{\xi}\right)^{1/\xi} \]
\(\nu\) : share parameter. Each household is endowed \(\nu \sim Beta(\alpha_{\nu}, \beta_{\nu})\)
\(\xi\) : complementarity. \(\xi < 0 \Rightarrow\) complement
\[ \begin{aligned} T &= T_m + T_f \\ \frac{1}{2}T & \sim Beta(\alpha_T, \beta_T) \end{aligned} \]
\[ \{\underbrace{\lambda_{R}, \lambda_{NR},\theta, }_{\text{production function}} \underbrace{\mu_{NR}, \sigma^2, \rho_{R, NR}, \rho_{mf},}_{\text{productivity}} \,\, \underbrace{\gamma, \xi, \alpha_{\nu}, \beta_{\nu},}_{\text{leisure}} \underbrace{\alpha_{T}, \beta_{T},}_{\text{home hours }} \underbrace{\alpha_{\delta}, \beta_{\delta}}_{\text{social norm}}\} \]
Parmeter | Value | Target | Data | Model |
---|---|---|---|---|
λR |
0.57 | mean of hf for regular workers |
0.50 | 0.48 |
λNR |
0.63 | mean of hf for NR workers |
0.30 | 0.27 |
θ |
2.96 | share of regular workers, females |
0.32 | 0.37 |
μNR |
−3.15 | share of NR workers, females |
0.38 | 0.28 |
σ |
1.03 | s.d. of ln wf for R workers |
0.72 | 0.72 |
ρR, NR |
0.14 | mean diff. of ln wf, R and ln wf, NR |
0.62 | 0.62 |
ρmf |
0.01 | corr. of log wages, R×R couples |
0.49 | 0.50 |
γ |
0.84 | s.d. of hf for regular workers |
0.11 | 0.11 |
ξ |
−8.29 | s.d. of hf for NR workers |
0.14 | 0.15 |
αν |
13.04 | mean of Tm for regular workers |
0.14 | 0.13 |
βν |
1.15 | mean of Tm for NR workers |
0.13 | 0.14 |
αT |
1.59 | mean of Tf for regular workers |
0.28 | 0.21 |
βT |
3.57 | mean of Tf for NR workers |
0.32 | 0.37 |
αδ |
0.59 | share of couples with em < ef |
0.07 | 0.08 |
βδ |
11.81 | corr. of working hours, couples |
0.19 | 0.18 |
Parmeter | Value | Target | Data | Model |
---|---|---|---|---|
λR |
0.57 | mean of hf for regular workers |
0.50 | 0.48 |
λNR |
0.63 | mean of hf for NR workers |
0.30 | 0.27 |
θ |
2.96 | share of regular workers, females |
0.32 | 0.37 |
μNR |
−3.15 | share of NR workers, females |
0.38 | 0.28 |
σ |
1.03 | s.d. of ln wf for R workers |
0.72 | 0.72 |
ρR, NR |
0.14 | mean diff. of ln wf, R and ln wf, NR |
0.62 | 0.62 |
ρmf |
0.01 | corr. of log wages, R×R couples |
0.49 | 0.50 |
γ |
0.84 | s.d. of hf for regular workers |
0.11 | 0.11 |
ξ |
−8.29 | s.d. of hf for NR workers |
0.14 | 0.15 |
αν |
13.04 | mean of Tm for regular workers |
0.14 | 0.13 |
βν |
1.15 | mean of Tm for NR workers |
0.13 | 0.14 |
αT |
1.59 | mean of Tf for regular workers |
0.28 | 0.21 |
βT |
3.57 | mean of Tf for NR workers |
0.32 | 0.37 |
αδ |
0.59 | share of couples with em < ef |
0.07 | 0.08 |
βδ |
11.81 | corr. of working hours, couples |
0.19 | 0.18 |
\(\xi < 0\)
Parmeter | Value | Target | Data | Model |
---|---|---|---|---|
λR |
0.57 | mean of hf for regular workers |
0.50 | 0.48 |
λNR |
0.63 | mean of hf for NR workers |
0.30 | 0.27 |
θ |
2.96 | share of regular workers, females |
0.32 | 0.37 |
μNR |
−3.15 | share of NR workers, females |
0.38 | 0.28 |
σ |
1.03 | s.d. of ln wf for R workers |
0.72 | 0.72 |
ρR, NR |
0.14 | mean diff. of ln wf, R and ln wf, NR |
0.62 | 0.62 |
ρmf |
0.01 | corr. of log wages, R×R couples |
0.49 | 0.50 |
γ |
0.84 | s.d. of hf for regular workers |
0.11 | 0.11 |
ξ |
−8.29 | s.d. of hf for NR workers |
0.14 | 0.15 |
αν |
13.04 | mean of Tm for regular workers |
0.14 | 0.13 |
βν |
1.15 | mean of Tm for NR workers |
0.13 | 0.14 |
αT |
1.59 | mean of Tf for regular workers |
0.28 | 0.21 |
βT |
3.57 | mean of Tf for NR workers |
0.32 | 0.37 |
αδ |
0.59 | share of couples with em < ef |
0.07 | 0.08 |
βδ |
11.81 | corr. of working hours, couples |
0.19 | 0.18 |
\(\xi < 0\)
\(\alpha_{\nu} =\) 13.04, \(\beta_{\nu} =\) 1.15
Parmeter | Value | Target | Data | Model |
---|---|---|---|---|
λR |
0.57 | mean of hf for regular workers |
0.50 | 0.48 |
λNR |
0.63 | mean of hf for NR workers |
0.30 | 0.27 |
θ |
2.96 | share of regular workers, females |
0.32 | 0.37 |
μNR |
−3.15 | share of NR workers, females |
0.38 | 0.28 |
σ |
1.03 | s.d. of ln wf for R workers |
0.72 | 0.72 |
ρR, NR |
0.14 | mean diff. of ln wf, R and ln wf, NR |
0.62 | 0.62 |
ρmf |
0.01 | corr. of log wages, R×R couples |
0.49 | 0.50 |
γ |
0.84 | s.d. of hf for regular workers |
0.11 | 0.11 |
ξ |
−8.29 | s.d. of hf for NR workers |
0.14 | 0.15 |
αν |
13.04 | mean of Tm for regular workers |
0.14 | 0.13 |
βν |
1.15 | mean of Tm for NR workers |
0.13 | 0.14 |
αT |
1.59 | mean of Tf for regular workers |
0.28 | 0.21 |
βT |
3.57 | mean of Tf for NR workers |
0.32 | 0.37 |
αδ |
0.59 | share of couples with em < ef |
0.07 | 0.08 |
βδ |
11.81 | corr. of working hours, couples |
0.19 | 0.18 |
\(\xi < 0\)
\(\alpha_{\nu} =\) 13.04, \(\beta_{\nu} =\) 1.15
\(\alpha_{T} =\) 1.59, \(\beta_{T} =\) 3.57