Rate of Double-Income Households

The rate of double-income households from the 2005 population census. The population census classifies in detail the number of household members. The rate of "households with both husband and wife working" among "standard households consisting of a married couple" was calculated. Although there are standard households without married couples, which includes one-person households, households with only either father or mother and his or her child(ren), they are not included in the calculation of double-income households.

The national average rate of double-income families in 2005 is 44.43%. Fukui is ranked first with 58.15%. Following Fukui are prefectures on the Japan Sea side, with Yamagata (57.78%) ranked second, Toyama (56.57%) third, Ishikawa (55.07%) fourth and Tottori (54.75%) fifth.

On the other hand, Nara is ranked last with 36.30%. Osaka is ranked 46th with 36.50% and Hyogo 44th with 39.02%, indicating low rate of double-income households in the Kansai area. Urban areas around Tokyo are also ranked low with Kanagawa ranked 45th (38.99%), Tokyo 41st (40.34%), Chiba 40th (41.23%) and Saitama 38th (42.44%). In general, the rate of double-income household is low in urban areas and higher in rural areas. In other words, there are many full-time housewives in urban areas.

In agricultural areas, it used to be normal for all members of a family to help with farm work. This changed in the age of rapid economic growth when the lifestyle consisting of "salaried worker + full-time housewife + public housing" was provided for promising youngsters gathering into the cities. This was a system for not only securing productivities of salaried workers, but for dissolving the agricultural self-sufficient lifestyles and producing consumers instead. In fact, the correlative ranking shows extremely high correlation with the rate of nuclear families.

Due to the recent business depression, the number of working women is increasing in urban areas, but women's participation in society is being delayed due to problems such as waiting-lists for nursery schools, etc. Because urban areas are, in the first place, suitable for full-time housewives and salaried workers, the environment in urban areas for women's participation in society is inferior compared to rural areas, where one can find more support from neighbors and relatives and where it takes less time to commute. It is a structural issue intertwined with the original mechanism of cities.

The rate of double-income households is negatively correlated with Households Living on Welfare, Murder Victims and Annual Rate of Unemployment indicating that there are fewer housholds living on welfare, fewer murder victimes and lower rate of unemployment in areas where the rate of double-income households is high. Stable income from two incomes may possibly be linked to social stability.

There is also high correlation with Automobiles Registered. In rural areas, automobiles are used for commuting and both husband and wife use automobiles to go to work, thus resulting in the increase in the number of automobiles registered. It is also highly correlated with the number of people engaged in the manufacturing industry. It can be said that there are many manufacturing industries in areas where female workforce can be expected.

There is high correlation with the area of privately owned houses and agricultural workforce, resulting the following construction: