3 ms·

Japan's Labor Market Has a Lesson for the Fed: Women Can Surprise You

13 points by mikhael 3y ago

toomuchtodo 3y ago
Women need flexibility and consistent childcare to enter and remain in the labor force participation rate. Instead, childcare is unaffordable and return to office mandates disadvantage those stuck in a structurally deficient system. https://blog.dol.gov/2023/01/24/new-childcare-data-shows-prices-are-untenable-for-families https://blog.dol.gov/2023/01/24/new-childcare-data-shows-pri... ("US Dept of Labor: New Childcare Data Shows Prices Are Untenable for Families") https://www.wsj.com/lifestyle/careers/return-to-the-office-mandates-are-a-disaster-for-working-mothers-bf57a071 https://www.wsj.com/lifestyle/careers/return-to-the-office-m... | https://archive.today/81afz https://archive.today/81afz ("Return-to-Office Mandates Are a Disaster for Working Mothers") No different than South Korea pleading with people of reproductive age to have children, while doing nothing with regards to work life balance expectations. "Stop hitting yourself" comes to mind, from a policy perspective, as well as a bit of The Purpose Of The System Is What It Does. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-68402139 https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-68402139 ("Why South Korean women aren't having babies") https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/east-asia/article/3253465/south-korea-sets-new-record-worlds-lowest-fertility-rate-despite-spending-billions-stem-population https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/east-asia/article/3253465/sou... ("South Korea sets new record for world’s lowest fertility rate despite spending billions to stem population slide") People are making rational choices for the environment they're forced to operate in.
- Affric 3y ago
  And our political systems are making rational choices based on the internal logic of the actors and the information available to them. No direct benefit from any of the solutions to 50% of the population so not popular, direct returns to business negligible so little support from the elite. You have to make the effective reforms popular through wider applicability or education or you make it profitable. The first is even less popular with business and conservatives; the second is cheapest and very difficult; the third is nigh on impossible.
Dig1t 3y ago
https://archive.is/L90ff https://archive.is/L90ff
alephnerd 3y ago
The key point: > Since about 2013, the Japanese government has tried to make both public policies and corporate culture more friendly to women in the work force I remember this was a major cornerstone of Abenomics at the time [0]. The current numbers are well below Abe's stated goal of 73% women participation by 2020, but is still a major cultural shift. I'm not sure how relevant this is for the US though, as the US has always had a fairly higher women participation rate than Japan [1] and it feels like the Byline Editor decided to clickbaitify the title of the article. [0] - https://www.japan.go.jp/tomodachi/2014/summer2014/womenomics_is_pushing_abenomics_forward.html https://www.japan.go.jp/tomodachi/2014/summer2014/womenomics... [1] - https://ourworldindata.org/female-labor-supply https://ourworldindata.org/female-labor-supply

13 points by mikhael 3y ago

Women need flexibility and consistent childcare to enter and remain in the labor force participation rate. Instead, childcare is unaffordable and return to office mandates disadvantage those stuck in a structurally deficient system. https://blog.dol.gov/2023/01/24/new-childcare-data-shows-prices-are-untenable-for-families https://blog.dol.gov/2023/01/24/new-childcare-data-shows-pri... ("US Dept of Labor: New Childcare Data Shows Prices Are Untenable for Families") https://www.wsj.com/lifestyle/careers/return-to-the-office-mandates-are-a-disaster-for-working-mothers-bf57a071 https://www.wsj.com/lifestyle/careers/return-to-the-office-m... | https://archive.today/81afz https://archive.today/81afz ("Return-to-Office Mandates Are a Disaster for Working Mothers") No different than South Korea pleading with people of reproductive age to have children, while doing nothing with regards to work life balance expectations. "Stop hitting yourself" comes to mind, from a policy perspective, as well as a bit of The Purpose Of The System Is What It Does. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-68402139 https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-68402139 ("Why South Korean women aren't having babies") https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/east-asia/article/3253465/south-korea-sets-new-record-worlds-lowest-fertility-rate-despite-spending-billions-stem-population https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/east-asia/article/3253465/sou... ("South Korea sets new record for world’s lowest fertility rate despite spending billions to stem population slide") People are making rational choices for the environment they're forced to operate in.

Affric 3y ago
And our political systems are making rational choices based on the internal logic of the actors and the information available to them. No direct benefit from any of the solutions to 50% of the population so not popular, direct returns to business negligible so little support from the elite. You have to make the effective reforms popular through wider applicability or education or you make it profitable. The first is even less popular with business and conservatives; the second is cheapest and very difficult; the third is nigh on impossible.

Dig1t 3y ago

https://archive.is/L90ff https://archive.is/L90ff

alephnerd 3y ago

The key point: > Since about 2013, the Japanese government has tried to make both public policies and corporate culture more friendly to women in the work force I remember this was a major cornerstone of Abenomics at the time [0]. The current numbers are well below Abe's stated goal of 73% women participation by 2020, but is still a major cultural shift. I'm not sure how relevant this is for the US though, as the US has always had a fairly higher women participation rate than Japan [1] and it feels like the Byline Editor decided to clickbaitify the title of the article. [0] - https://www.japan.go.jp/tomodachi/2014/summer2014/womenomics_is_pushing_abenomics_forward.html https://www.japan.go.jp/tomodachi/2014/summer2014/womenomics... [1] - https://ourworldindata.org/female-labor-supply https://ourworldindata.org/female-labor-supply