Number of women working in Japan hits record high
- Josephine Tan
- Topics: DE&I, Home Page - News, Japan, Mobility, News
The number of working women in Japan has achieved a historic milestone, reaching 30.35 million in 2022, marking an increase of 1.22 million from five years earlier, a government survey has revealed.
The Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications survey also revealed that the employment rate among women soared to a record 53.2%, attributed in part to government initiatives supporting working mothers. While the number of working men saw a slight decline since the last survey in 2017, down to 36.71 million, the surge in working women boosted the combined working population to a record 67.06 million.
Non-regular employees, including part-timers, accounted for 21.11 million employees, representing 36.9% of employed individuals, excluding executives. This figure marked a decrease of 1.3 percentage points from the previous survey, potentially indicating a shift towards more regular employment opportunities.
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has been committed to advancing gender equality and women’s economic independence, making it a core of his “new form of capitalism” policy, reported Nikkei Asia.
To further promote gender diversity, a government council approved a women’s empowerment policy targeting a female board member ratio exceeding 30% by 2030 in organisations listed on the top-tier Prime market of the Tokyo Stock Exchange.
READ MORE: Japan targets more female board members for large organisations
The survey also delved into the impact of the pandemic on workstyles, revealing that 19.1% (12.65 million) of employees had experienced remote work in the past year, reflecting the evolving dynamics of the labour market.
Positive strides were also noted in work-life balance, particularly among parents of preschool children, with 85.2% being working parents, up 5.9 points from comparable data available since 2012. Supportive measures like parental leave and reduced working hours contributed to this improvement, as highlighted by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications.
