Sachiko Kuroda

Sachiko Kuroda is Professor of Economics at Waseda University’s Faculty of Education and Integrated Arts and Sciences, where she has taught since 2014. Holding a Ph.D. from Keio University, she specializes in labor economics and applied micro-econometrics, focusing on working hours, health, productivity and work-style reform in Japan.

Education:

• Ph.D. (Economics), Keio University
• B.A. (Economics), Keio University, Faculty of Economics

Research Interests:
Her work integrates labor economics with health and productivity analysis, examining how overtime, remote work, gig jobs, sleep and management quality affect employees’ mental health and firm performance. She uses large-scale employer–employee panel data and randomized controlled trials to evaluate policies such as telework promotion, overtime regulation and corporate wellness programs.

Recent Publication Trends:
Between 2020-2024 Kuroda has published extensively on COVID-19’s labor-market impacts, showing that working-from-home can reduce productivity unless communication infrastructure is improved, while also demonstrating that app-based sleep interventions significantly raise presenteeism. Other studies quantify mental-health damages from long hours, weekend or night work, and analyze who enters gig jobs during recessions.

Scientific Awards:

• 38th Labor-Related Book Excellence Award (2014)
• 57th Nikkei Economic Book Award (2014) for Economic Analysis of Working Hours: Prospects for Working Styles in a Super-Aging Society

Grants & Policy Outreach:
She currently leads a JSPS KAKENHI project (2022-2026) evaluating Japan’s work-style reform laws, and has served on numerous government councils for the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, Cabinet Office and Ministry of Internal Affairs, providing evidence-based advice on working-time regulation, statistics, and telework promotion.

Labs & Institutes:
Kuroda directs the Institute for Well-being and Productivity Studies at Waseda, is a concurrent researcher at the Center for Data Science (2024-2029) and the Institute for Advanced Studies in Education, and participates in the university’s Gender & Well-being special research project.