Christine Lagarde backs Shinzo Abe’s plan for women to lift Japan economy
IMF chief agrees on boosting women in workforce to lift economy, but says Japan could do more
IMF chief Christine Lagarde yesterday backed Tokyo's efforts to boost the Japanese economy by increasing women's participation in the workforce, and called for even more action, including loosening immigration rules.
The comments came at a three-day gathering on women in the labour market, hosted by Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who has pledged to raise the number of women in the country's corporate and political ranks.
"The global economy is not making use of great potential that is available. And that needs to change, not just for women's sake, but for economies' sake," Lagarde, head of the International Monetary Fund, told the Tokyo meeting.
"What about Japan? Here, we have shown through our study that gradually raising the female labour force to the average level of the G7 [group of the most developed economies] could raise income per capita by 4 per cent, permanently.
"To target something even higher, which is the level of northern Europe, then that would give an additional 4 per cent on the top."
Abe wants women to occupy 30 per cent of senior positions by 2020, an ambitious jump from the current 11 per cent, one of the lowest among wealthy nations.