Survey on Young People Balancing Work and Childcare Released
Overview
The Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare’s public relations initiative, the Kyouiku (Tomoiku) Project, released the preliminary results of its “Survey on Young People’s Views on Balancing Work and Childcare” on July 31, 2026. The survey summarizes young people’s attitudes toward shared parenting; gaps between desired and actual divisions of household and childcare responsibilities; perceptions of how conducive workplaces are to balancing work and family and intentions to remain employed; career advancement intentions among young people who are proactive about balancing work and childcare; and what people raising children want from companies and others.
Key points
- About 70% of young people responded positively to shared parenting.
- About 60% said they want to take an equally active role in raising children as their spouse or partner.
- About 40% of households want to split responsibilities evenly, 5:5, but only about 20% have achieved that split.
- People who feel their workplace makes balancing work and family easier are 44.9 percentage points more likely to intend to remain employed, at about 80%.
Overview
The Kyouiku (Tomoiku) Project, a public relations initiative promoting dual earning and shared parenting by the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, released the “Preliminary Survey on Young People’s Views on Balancing Work and Childcare” on July 31, 2026. The survey aims to clarify and communicate young people’s views on balancing work and childcare.
The project aims to change the reality of one-person operations at work and at home, and to build a society where people of all genders can balance work with household and childcare responsibilities according to their wishes and raise children together. It says it will use the survey findings to build momentum for dual earning and shared parenting and encourage companies to introduce and promote work-family support programs.
Impact
Among people who feel their workplace makes balancing work and family easier, the share who said they want to continue working at their current workplace is 44.9 percentage points higher than among those who do not, reaching about 80%.
Details
The survey summary says about 70% of young people consider balancing work (career) and private life when choosing a company.
An even 5:5 split is the most desired division of household and childcare responsibilities, at about 40%, but only about 20% of households have achieved that split, showing a gap between preferences and reality.
Among young people who want to be proactive about balancing work and childcare, the share who want to advance their careers if an environment that enables this balance is available is 21.9 percentage points higher than among young people overall. The top requests from people raising children to companies and others are appropriate workloads, greater understanding from supervisors and managers, reductions in long working hours and similar practices, a workplace atmosphere that makes programs easy to use, and support for reviewing the division of household and childcare responsibilities.