Question

Japan Wasting Women's Potential Laborforce participation rates ■Men-Japan ■Women-Japan ■Men-EU 15 countries 100% -women-EU 15 countries 80 Leave workforce to have children 60 40 20 0 15-19 20-24 25-29 30-34 35-39 40-44 45-49 50-54 55-59 60-64 65-69 70-74 75+ Age cohorts Source: 2015 data collated by OECD Bloomberg Although there has been some improvement in this trend in recent years, there is s women in other developed nations. Their absence from the workforce during their 30s and 40s, which are the p working years, hurts their chances of advancement, reduces life-time incomes, and wastes the time and money spent on their education. It's similar for older Japanese, whose labor force participation declines markedly once they hit 60 years old, which is the mandatory retirement age in many companies. Japanese are some of the longest-lived people in the world and they have higher literacy and numeracy skills than the average for developed nations. For them to leave the workforce early, or officially retire and then come back at lower pay, hurts their potential lifetime income and also overall growth. "Japan has great people, assets and capital, in both quality and quantity. The issue is we don't see that benefiting output," said Murakami. "We have to reform the structure of the economy, and improve the system." till a big gap with men and with rime Discuss carefully the meaning and significance of the above excerpt for economic growth and development

Answer 1

This article throws the light on the gap in the employment involvement of men and women. The article indicates that due to the absence from the labor force during the age group of 30-40 tears which is considered as the most productive age, the women tend to have a negative impact on the chances of advancement, reduced lifetime income and wastage of time and money spent on the education.

On the other hand, the article also shows that there is a negative impact of the early retirement of Japanese people due to the government policy of retirement at the age of 60 years. Due to relatively longer lifespan, higher literacy, and numeracy skills, these people can still contribute to the economy of the country even after working beyond 60 years of age.

Due to the compulsory retirement age of 60, if these people want to rejoin the workforce, they are limited due to lower wage rates offered to them.

The overall impression of the article is to focus on the age and the productivity and how different age group can contribute to the economy. People must work when they can contribute productivity to the economy and if there is a restriction of age, it must be overcome by the government policies. This will also benefit the workers in the form of greater income generation.