Fathering Japan, a nonprofit organization, holds a study session on childcare leave for male employees at the Consumer Affairs Agency in 2013. (Asahi Shimbun file photo)

A record 21 percent of eligible male central government bureaucrats took childcare leave in fiscal 2018, the highest level since 1992 when the parental leave system was introduced.

This meant that 1,350 fathers took time off work last fiscal year, the National Personnel Authority announced Sept. 30.

This worked out to a rate of 21.6 percent, a 3.5 percentage point increase compared with fiscal 2017.

Female counterparts who took childcare leave totaled 1,910 for a rate of 99.5 percent among those who were eligible.

The statistics cover "regular service national public employees," a category that does not include Defense Ministry officials, judges and others considered to be of special service.

The rate of childcare leave shows the percentage of employees who took advantage of the system among those who newly qualified for it in a fiscal year, which starts in April.

The rate for males represented a roughly four-fold increase over the 5.5 percent in fiscal 2014. The number of men who took leave increased by 958 from 392 four years previously.

Analyzing the results, an agency official noted that the working environment had changed, allowing employees not to feel guilty about taking time off.

With regard to the time taken for childcare leave in fiscal 2018, 30.4 percent of women, the highest, took between 12 and 24 months, but 72.1 percent of men took one month or less.

This worked out to an overall average of 10.4 months. For men, the average figure was 1.8 months and for women, 16.4 months.

As to how workplaces adjusted to employees who took parental leave, in 64.7 percent of the cases, the highest, job responsibilities were changed, followed by 16.8 percent of cases where individuals on limited-term contracts took over for those on leave.