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While Japanese law provides for a system of Family Care Leave (long-term leave designed to support workers responsible for the long-term care of family members), the take-up rate of the leave remains at a low level. This paper an-alyzes whether workers tend to quit their jobs because of the need to take con-secutive leave, as envisioned by the Family Care Leave system, or whether there is another reason for this tendency. It also examines issues concerning support for continued employment designed to match the actual circumstances of workers engaged in long-term care for family members. Analysis of data on workers who are in employment at the start of long-term care reveals that (1) there is a positive correlation between a greater need to take Family Care Leave and a lower rate of continuous employment in the same company from the beginning to the end of the caregiving period, (2) long-term care services are used to alleviate the need for long-term leave while such need is greater when caring for a parent than when caring for a spouse?s parent, (3) regardless of the need for long-term leave, workers who work six hours or less per day are more likely to remain continuously employed in the same company than those who work more than eight hours per day, and (4) there is a correlation between lower rates of continuous employment in the same company and the provision of long-term care with no assistance from other family members, as well as severe dementia afflicting the care recipient, regardless of the need for long term leave. These findings indicate that, to enable caregivers to remain in employment, it is essential not only to manage the Family Care Leave system effectively but also to offer a full range of other forms of support, such as re-duced working hours and social support for workers who provide dementia care |
