The causal effect of family structure on labor force participation among Japanese married women

This paper finds that after controlling for the endogeneity of family structure, coresidence with one's own parents or in-laws has a significant positive effect on Japanese married women's labor force participation. This suggests that coresidence allows married women to share the burden of household work with their parents or in-laws, thus leading to the increased probability of labor force participation. It is also found that married women are more likely to reside with parents-in-law if their husband is the eldest son. This suggests the persistence of the traditional Japanese value that the eldest son is more responsible for family matters.