Paper short abstract:

The paper aims to examine economic inequality among children, associated with mother's work. To clarify Japan's situation, I compare Japan to Germany, Italy, Spain, Taiwan. The contribution of a mother's income to the household is more or less limited in low-fertility societies.

Paper long abstract:

It has been more than 30 years since the Equal Employment Opportunity Law was enacted in Japan. However, the majority of married women do not stay in the labor market throughout their life course. In this study I like to examine economic inequality among children, associated with mother's work. Japan has suffered from very low fertility rates since the mid-1970s, although Japan has introduced several policies to increase fertility rates over the last 25 years. I focus on the significance of the mother's income in explaining income inequality among children.

The second demographic transition has been described as closely related to expanding inequality among children (Mclanahan 2004), but no systematic discussions have been made about the relationship between mother's work and inequality among children. To clarify Japan's situation, I employ a cross-national comparison. I compare Japan to Germany, Italy, Spain, Taiwan. The Japanese data are taken from the Comprehensive Survey of Living Conditions (CSLCJ), and data for the other societies are drawn from Luxembourg Income Studies (LIS). Income inequality is measured as the post-transfer disposable equivalent income calculated by dividing household income by the square root of household size.

According to my preliminary analyses, the contribution of a mother's income to the household is more or less limited in low-fertility societies. The incomes of mothers in Japan, Spain, and Italy seem to have limited impact in explaining economic inequality among children, on average. However, Spain and Italy have more well-paid double-income couples than does Japan; thus, economic inequality among families with children is higher in Spain and Italy than in Japan. Ironically, therefore, the increase in the number of well-paid mothers does not seem to be negatively associated with fertility, while economic inequality has remained stable along with gradual increase in fertility since the mid-1990s in both Italy and Spain.