We estimated the number of labor force exiters unemployed due to family care and their lost income. We defined labor force exiters as those who were out of work 2 years after they exited. Among the 99.1 thousand annual care leavers, 35.7 % restarted work and the remaining 64.3 % exited the labor market. Three-fourths of the exiters were non-regular workers. Among the care leavers previously in regular employment and those who returned to the labor market, 45.6 % of them restarted work as regular workers and the remainder restarted work as non-regular workers. Among the exiters, the ratio of care leavers to all exiters was 3.6 %. About 10 % of women exiters of 40-50 years of age were care leavers. Hence, the loss of middle-aged employment due to care leaves is significant.
The wages of care leavers’ previous jobs is indispensable for calculating the loss of income. However, our data did not contain the necessary information. Hence, as a proxy variable, we used the wages of workers who provide care 6 days a week since their attributes are similar to those of care leavers. Additionally, in the loss of income calculation, we considered the income accrued from restarting work.
The total loss of income during one year after care leave was 182.1 billion yen. The 270 billion yen loss of income suggested by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (2018) was larger than ours by 1.48 times. Approximately 70 % of the difference of the loss was due to usage of the wage of general workers, whose attributes were different from those of care leavers as a proxy variable for the wage of care leavers’ previous jobs. The remaining 30 % occurred because the calculation did not account for the income accrued from restarting work. Income loss can be due to the decrease in the employment ratio (77.1 %) or due to the wage gap between the previous and current jobs (22.9 %). Regular workers sustained three-fourths of the income loss due to the wage gap, approximately 70 % of which was due to restarting work as low wage non-regular workers.
View full abstract