A Western Perspective on Japanese Female Employment in the Post-COVID-19 Era

The views expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of ASPA as an organization.

By Andrew R. Vaz
March 7, 2025

I believe it is safe to assume that the unexpected, COVID-19 pandemic hit a majority of labor markets worldwide. For many first-world markets, such as the United States, there was an induced recession. The COVID-19 pandemic pushed the U.S. unemployment rate to a record high of 14.7 percent and caused millions to leave the workforce, producing the labor force participation rate decline of 60.2 percent. One of the key differences of the pandemic recession from previous ones such as the Great Recession is that women’s employment has been more severely affected than men’s.

While all of this explains what happened to one of the largest labor economies in the world, other markets experienced different outcomes. I find particular interest in the labor market of Japan—a nation that is already experiencing a birthing crisis and financial stagnation. What this article seeks to understand is the impact of the pandemic on Japanese women in the labor force and what can be done to eliminate the widening gender gap in the Japanese economy.

To begin this investigation, let’s acknowledge a couple of items. First, the pandemic decreased the demand for labor in the hospitality and tourism industries in which the female employment share is high. This isn’t unique to Japan—this was worldwide as there were travel restrictions in place. Second, many schools and daycare facilities were closed to prevent the spread of COVID-19, which increased parents’ childcare responsibilities. During the pandemic, people who were not in the labor force actively became less interested in finding employment. Trends before the crisis suggested that there was higher interest among women in the labor force, but there was a steady drop in participation. Because women typically have more childcare responsibilities than men, the closures were likely to have caused many working mothers to leave their jobs at least temporarily.

In the wake of these temporary job losses, there is the rise of telework and remote employment opportunities. This has the potential of assisting women in the economy. When it comes to Japanese women, working from home has great implications in shifting the responsibility of unpaid housework. It would allow greater opportunities for both partners to share the burden of housework and childcare rather than placing the burden primarily on women. The number of hours spent on housework and childcare among Japanese men has been the lowest among OECD nations. This is one of the key barriers for women to enter into more permanent employment and gain access to leadership positions with greater time commitments. 

Another barrier is the tax system in Japan—Japan’s tax and pension system penalizes dependent spouses (mostly women) who make over 1.5 million yen a year (USD 10,047.39), incentivizing women to work less and earn smaller wages. It’s a policy that systemically lowers the ability for women to accrue wealth, increase savings and gain financial independence and stability to support themselves or their families. Japan should consider revamping the tax system to progressively tax everyone regardless of gender for social security based on income, which would allow more flexibility and opportunity for women to work and accrue wealth. Not every citizen is born into wealth, the wealthiest citizens of Japan comprise a smaller percentage than the number of wealthy Americans in the West (The United States has the largest concentration of millionaires and billionaires in the world).

Now, that the COVID-19 pandemic ended in most of the developed world infection rates have gone back down to manageable levels. This experience has opened the idea of re-imagining how the day-to-day office looks to workers and employers. This should be more accommodating to women so they to re-enter the market if they have been away or advanced in their current fields. While this will take a policy initiative that surely needs the support of elected officials in the country, policymakers must bear in mind the needs of its populace against the growing concerns of a global recession in the coming years. Women need to participate and accrue wealth—it will be beneficial for Japan’s overall economic health.

Thus, Japan needs to work vigorously to fix the rise of unemployment for Japanese women after the COVID-19 pandemic. This can be achieved by first, expanding the opportunities for telework and remote work. Today, we are seeing more companies take steps toward adopting

performance-based pay systems and fully introducing “job description” systems that specify job content and required skills to establish work-from-home/teleworking. The Japanese government must provide broad support that includes the provision of funds and know-how as well as the drafting of legal systems for companies that introduce teleworking. Secondly, the tax system needs to be revamped to allow women in Japan to accrue wealth for themselves and their families.

If Japanese women are not given the opportunity to participate in the post-COVID-19 economy, Japan may struggle to cope with the potential recession looming on the horizon.

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Author: Andrew R. Vaz, Ph.D. is a graduate of the Ph.D. in Public Policy and Administration program at Walden University, specializing in Public Management and Leadership. He was already awarded a Master of Philosophy (MPhil) degree in the program. He is also a graduate of the Master of Science in Criminal Justice (MSCJ) and Master of Public Administration (MPA) double master’s program at Florida International University. He can be reached at [email protected]. 

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