The fertility rate of Japan has declined to as low as 1.39, and it has not shown any sign of turning around.Various measures to "help raising children" have been put in place. The Child Allowance was raised two times in the past few years, yet its level is no where as high as that of European countries.The child care is a mixture of public and private. Public child care centers receive high percentage of subsidy from the government and its cost to parents are fairly low, but there are some serious shortages in metropolitan areas.
The labor participation rate of women with children is very low, compared to other countries.
As it says in the above question, the continuing decline of the fertility rate has been a cause of real concern among policy makers and the general public for some time. Yet, there has not been any effective measures to turn it around.
The basic approach is to make it easier to work while raising children.
Families with children
Establishment of Subsidy to companies which actively promote Maternity (and Paternity) leave.
Expansion of public Child Care Services to include those mothers who only work part time.
Establishment of Child Raising Assistance Coordinator in each municipality.
Use of Silver Employement Service (which provides short-term temporary work for senior citizens who want to work) to provide child care
It is hard to assess what is "success" for this kind of policy.
Easing off various constraints to raise children while working.
Not seen yet.
No direct effects.
There has not been really any "opposition" to this reform.
The inclusion of the part-time working mothers in the public Child Care services is new, yet its aim is questionnalbe. Many women working part-time are working within the no-income tax threshold and thus do not contribute to the government.
At the same time, it is not clear their being able to work part-time contribute to making them want and have (more) children.
Thus, it is not clear what this measure will accomplish. At the same time, many full-time working mothers are forced to use expensive private child care services because the public child care services do not extend their operation hours.
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