| Abstract: | ABSTRACT In Japan, divorce rates have more than doubled since the mid-1960s, and female paid employment has increased rapidly in the past few decades. By applying a conventional economic model of labor force participation to micro-level data gathered from a nationally representative sample survey, this paper shows that Japanese married women who have contemplated divorcing their husbands are more likely to participate in the workforce as full-time paid employees. This finding suggests that an increasing risk of divorce has made a substantial contribution to the fast rise in Japanese women's participation in paid employment, particularly full-time work. |
