Amendments to the Child Care and Family Care Leave Law will make parental leave entitlements more flexible for employees, with the aims of increasing their use by men and encouraging new mothers to remain in the workforce. According to the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare (MHLW), about half of female workers quit working for reasons directly related to childbirth and childcare. Based on 2020 MHLW data, while over 80% of women take parental leave at some point, only about 13% of men do (though this is substantially higher than the 7% take-up rate reported for 2019 and 3% in 2016). The government’s target is to increase the proportion of men who take such leave to 30% by 2025.
From an employment perspective, the following are noteworthy developments:
Attitudes about childcare leave in Japan might be characterized as “old-fashioned,” as evidenced by the low use of such leave by fathers and company policies that often assume only female employees take childcare leave. Public opinion on the matter has been evolving, and the shift in male employees’ opinions and usage of parental leave has arguably been accelerated by changing work practices and the use of remote working in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Retaining employees who are new mothers may, however, continue to be challenged by the limited availability of daycare, particularly in large cities. Employers should review their existing leave policies and internal communications to ensure compliance with the new requirements. Among companies surveyed by WTW, over three-quarters provide supplemental paid paternity leave, but the entitlement is typically modest (three days at median).