Research Programs: Special Projects

Causes of and Countermeasures to Gender Inequality in Labor Markets: Theories and quantitative studies from the perspectives of human capital, education, corporate personnel policy, and occupational skill

Project Leader/Sub-Leader

YAMAGUCHI Kazuo

YAMAGUCHI Kazuo (Visiting Fellow)

Leader

Overview

This project aims at identifying the causes of, and the policy measures to eliminate, three gender gaps in the Japanese employment and labor markets through evidence making based on the empirical analysis of survey data: (1) the gender wage gap, (2) the gender gap in the proportion of managers and administrators, and (3) the gender gap in the proportions of professionals in the STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) fields. As a means of attaining these goals, project members focus on empirical research on (a) personnel policies and evaluations in firms and their effects on gender inequality, (b) gender segregation in college majors and other educational processes that generate gender inequality, (c) occupational skill differentiation and its association with gender in generating inequality in occupational status attainment and wage, (d) family and educational processes that generate gender role attitudes and gendered occupational career aspirations, and (e) under-utilization of human resources and gender inequality through the expansion of gendered irregular employment in labor markets.

The project members consist of female and male cross-generational scholars of diverse disciplines who share the values of the project’s mission to realize a gender-equal society. The “observers” who play advisory roles of this project consist of prominent public administrators and scholars who have greatly contributed to the realization of gender equality in Japan.

April 1, 2024 - March 31, 2026

(The research project period: From April 1, 2024 to March 31, 2026)