Decision-Making Process in the Job Searches of Newly Graduated Childcare Workers: Case Study in Chiba City

Abstract

Childcare workers acquire qualifications and search for employment at childcare training schools. These include vocational schools, junior colleges, and universities. This study aimed to clarify childcare workers’ decision-making process in selecting a training school and their first career post. It focused on daycare nurseries in the city of Chiba, Chiba prefecture, with specific reference to newly graduated childcare workers and labor supply.

An interview survey revealed that many childcare workers were employed where they received practical training or were introduced to the nursery by teachers. The social welfare corporations surveyed have an organized recruitment network with training schools, and this network supplies newly graduated labor to nurseries in the vicinity of training schools. Focusing on childcare workers’ decision-making process, most interviewees wanted to be employed within commuting distance of their parents’ homes. This is related to the structural aspects of the employment search and regional issues in the childcare labor market. Students in training schools searching for employment tend to rely on local listings collected from the schools, and recently the number of training schools has increased in the Tokyo metropolitan area due to growing demand for nursery facilities. As a result, information on recruitment at training schools reflects the growth in local employment.

In this study, childcare workers were mainly from the suburbs of the Tokyo metropolitan area and were able to find local employment. However, this suggests that it is more difficult to be employed locally in rural areas where there is less demand for childcare services. The labor supply of childcare workers is dependent on the regional unevenness of demand for their services.