Gender Gap on Japan's Precarious Employment and Well-Being in the COVID-19 Pandemic

This study examines the gender disparity in precarious employment and individual well-being of Japanese workers during the spread of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) in 2020. The gender gap in Japanese working places is much larger than other developed countries (i.e., western countries) and examining the gender gap at Japanese workers’ well-being is contributable to elucidate its mechanism. By using large-scale data of government statistics, we comparatively examine the employment and well-being of Japanese workers at four periods—before the pandemic (2019), after the pandemic (May 2020, December 2020 and April 2021). This study mainly confirms the following two points. First, the working hours of women in non-regular employment decreased significantly during the COVID-19 pandemic, and this effect was particularly pronounced among middle-aged and elderly part-time women with families. Second, during the COVID-19 pandemic, although the anxiety of non-regular workers increased more than those of other attributes, there was no significant change in life satisfaction and job satisfaction for any type of workers. The authors assume that the above finding is due to a social structural issue caused by the large wage gap between men and women. In other words, women with families are dependent on men for the main household income in Japan.