Abstract
The relationships of the rate of waiting for admission to nurseries for infants up to 2 years of age (ratio of infants waiting for admission to nurseries and the number of infants that have been admitted to nurseries) with the employment rate of women aged 25-39years and with socioeconomic factors in 694 municipalities in Japan were investigated. According to the results of analysis, the relationships between the rate of waiting for admission to nurseries for infants of 0-2 years of age and employment rate of women aged 25-39 years could be divided into the following four groups : one group in which the nursery admission waiting rate for infants and employment rate of women were both higher than national average rates (75 municipalities), one group in which the employment rate of women was lower than the national average rate but the nursery admission waiting rate for infants was higher than the national average rate (95 municipalities), one group in which the nursery admission waiting rate for infants and employment rate of women were both lower than national average rates (193 municipalities), and one group in which the employment rate of women was higher than the national average rate but the nursery admission waiting rate for infants was lower than the national average rate (331 municipalities). Thus, the results showed that differences in the employment rate of women and admission vacancies in nurseries have arisen due to differences in the characteristics of municipalities in Japan. The results indicate the necessity for the establishment of a national government policy to ensure that there is an adequate number of nurseries, particularly in large cities, and for the government to take administrative measures such as providing subsidies for construction of new nurseries in areas with high land prices and for compensation for increased nursery operating costs.
