A Multi-Level Analysis of the Effects of Age on the Female Employment Rates in Japan and Taiwan

YaFeng Lin, Louisiana State University
Yoshinori Kamo, Louisiana State University

The study uses the Age-Period-Cohort model to clarify the relationship between women’s age and their employment rates in Japan (1998, 2003, and 2008) and Taiwan (1996, 2001, and 2006). In Japan, we find the effect of life cycle stages on the female labor force participation, but no cohort effects. Many Japanese women leave the job market upon marriage or childbirth but later go back to work once their children grow old, measured by logit function with the degree of four for age. In Taiwan, women rarely quit jobs for marriages and/or childbirths, shown by logit function with the degree of three for age. While they show cohort differences, they disappear once other predictors are controlled for.