Japan's gender pay gap has been a long-standing problem. OECD data indicate Japanese women's median earnings were about 22% lower than men's through 2022. That is, for every 100 yen a man makes, a woman makes about 78 yen. A 2023 Japanese Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare (MHLW) survey reported the same pattern: the average female wage index was 74.8 versus 100 for men. The gap has been narrowing over time – from a little less than 30% in the early 2000s to the low 20s today – but it remains wide. There are significant regional variations; Kochi Prefecture, for instance, had the narrowest gap (80.4% of men's wages earned by women) and Tochigi the widest (71.0%). Overall, however, Japan is at or near the bottom of advanced economies on this measure.
Figure: OECD countries selected gender wage gap (median full-time earnings, 2022). Japan's gap (22.1%) is one of the widest, much higher than the OECD average (11.6%) and gaps in Nordic countries like Norway and Sweden. The gap in South Korea (31.2%) is the highest in the OECD. Lower values are indications of greater gender pay parity.
Compared with other countries, Japan's gap is unusual. The OECD average gender pay gap is around 11%, about half of the Japanese one. The Nordic countries have among the smallest gaps – Sweden's gap is merely ~7% (over 90% parity) and Norway's around 8% – partly because they have excellent gender equality policies (explained below). At the opposite end, South Korea has an even greater gap than Japan, at 31.2% in 2022, the OECD's highest. South Korea's is routinely seen as an example to beware of, because Japan and Korea have cultural and work practices (e.g., seniority-based pay systems) that exacerbate gender gaps. By contrast, countries like Sweden and Norway have implemented support family policies and workplace equality measures that have driven their wage gaps into single digits. In short, Japan's gender wage gap is quite large for an advanced economy, and it reflects a profound inequality in the labor market.
Several factors are responsible for Japan's large gender wage gap. One key issue is occupational segregation and women's dominance of non-regular employment. About half of Japan's female workers are fixed-term contract employees or part-time workers, typically earning lower hourly rates and reduced benefits compared to the better-paying full-time positions that mostly fall to men. Women also trail in the ranks of managers; less than 15% of managers in Japan are women. Fewer women holding better-paying leadership roles necessarily drags female workers' average earnings below those of males. A further explanation is the pattern of career disruption: many women leave the workforce or move to reduced work hours following marriage or childbirth. The government indicates that women have shorter average tenure of employment, reflecting these breaks. These interruptions in careers make women acquire less experience and tenure, which hurts wage growth within Japan's pay system based on seniority. In fact, Japan's and Korea's seniority-based wage systems reward women for their time in the labor market, resulting in both countries' large pay difference. Even though Japanese women are highly educated (enter tertiary education at rates similar to men), it does not always translate into equal pay. Areas of research are uneven (women are underrepresented in STEM, as will be discussed later), and discrimination in hiring, promotion, and compensation persists. Empirical work indicates that even after controlling for education, experience, and sector, a considerable portion of the gender wage gap remains unexplained by observable variables – ~30% of the gap can be accounted for by gender-based discrimination or other omitted variables. Thus, while some of Japan's wage inequality is due to women having a greater share of part-time work and shorter tenure, there remains a significant gap even between men and women in the same job, suggesting implicit discrimination and structural constraints in the workplace.
References (APA style & Hyperlinked):
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Aki Tanaka & Thelma Akpan (2023, September 12). Japan Addresses the Wage Gap by Requiring Gender Pay Gap Disclosure. Japan Society.
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Kyodo News (2024, September 8). Women’s wages 70-80% of men’s in Japan as gender gap remains. Kyodo News.
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OECD (2023). Gender equality and work: Key messages. OECD.org.
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OECD (2024). Employment Outlook 2024 – Japan Country Note. OECD.
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Voronoi/Visual Capitalist (2024, Mar 31). The Largest Gender Pay Gaps in OECD Countries.
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CFR – Council on Foreign Relations (n.d.). Spotlight on Japan: Growing Economies Through Gender Parity.
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International Monetary Fund (2023, Nov 13). Japan’s Economy Would Gain With More Women in Science and Technology. IMF News.
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Nikolka, T. (2013). The Gender Wage Gap in OECD Countries. CESifo DICE Report, 11(1), 69-72.
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Urabe, E. (2023, Sep 4). Women in Japan Do Over Half a Trillion Dollars More of Unpaid Housework Than Men. TIME/Bloomberg.
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OECD (2012). OECD Employment Outlook 2012 – Gender wage gap data. (Referenced in Nikolka, 2013).
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World Economic Forum (2023). Global Gender Gap Report 2023. (Used for contextual understanding of rankings).
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Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, Japan (2023). Basic Survey on Wage Structure. (Data referenced via Kyodo News 2024).
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Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, Japan (various years). Labour Force Survey. (Participation rates data referenced via IMF 2023).
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(Additional sources are hyperlinked inline in the text above.)