Is Being Single Better? An Analysis of Employment Structure and Wages of Japanese Female Workers

Abstract

Using the 1993-2010 Japanese Panel Survey of Consumer data, this paper examines Japanese women’s labour force participation and determinants of earnings by marital status with a particular focus on the unmarried. Estimates confirm that experience and education  increase women’s labour force participation, but age reduces it among unmarried women and increases it among the married.  Estimates further show weak evidence of a 1.4 per cent wage penalty for being single. Age, high education, and full-time employment status produce a wage premium for women, regardless of their marital status, but experience has no effect on unmarried women’s earnings and reduces married women’s wages by 2.3 per cent. Occupational differences have a large effect on earnings: professional and technical occupations offer high wage premiums for women, regardless of their marital status. Industry differences also matter: unmarried women in the finance/insurance/real estate industry and married women in public administration earn sizable wage premiums.