Female labor force participation and development
TL;DR: The relationship between female labor force participation and economic development is far more complex than often portrayed in both the academic literature and policy debates as discussed by the authors, and beyond participation rates, policymakers need to focus on improving women's access to quality employment.
Abstract: The relationship between female labor force participation and economic development is far more complex than often portrayed in both the academic literature and policy debates. Due to various economic and social factors, such as the pattern of growth, education attainment, and social norms, trends in female labor force participation do not conform consistently with the notion of a U-shaped relationship with GDP. Beyond participation rates, policymakers need to focus on improving women’s access to quality employment.
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TL;DR: In this article, the effects of information and communication technologies (ICT) on female labor force participation in a sample of 48 African countries were investigated and linear regression and dynamic panel data models with fixed effects (FE) and system-generalized method of moments (SYS-GMM) estimation over the period 2001-2017.
20 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the dynamic relationship between family formation and women's employment was investigated in the Middle East and North Africa, and it was shown that anticipating marriage and getting married are strongly associated with women's job outcomes.
Abstract: Despite increases in educational attainment, women’s employment rates remain very low in the Middle East and North Africa. Difficulties reconciling work and family formation have been identified as an important but under-researched factor in low female employment rates. This paper investigates the dynamic relationship between family formation and women’s employment. The paper studies Egypt, Jordan, and Tunisia, leveraging unique retrospective data on work, marriage, childbearing, and child rearing. The data allow us to estimate discrete time hazard models for the duration of different labor market statuses. This paper examines three sets of outcomes: (1) duration in employment, (2) duration in non-employment, and (3) duration in different labor market states and specific types of work. We explore the different roles of getting married, being married, expecting children, having children, or having young children as constraints to employment. Findings show that anticipating marriage and getting married are strongly associated with women’s employment outcomes. Non-employment is an absorbing state, particularly after marriage.
19 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examined the relationship between economic deployment of ICT, women's labour market participation, and economic growth in 64 developing countries between 1990 and 2017, using time trends, graphical non-parametric analysis and panel vector-autoregressive models.
Abstract: The known in empirical economics question
‘Why so Few? Why so Slow? Why so Low?’ refers here to the
persistently small number of women involved in
innovative activities, the slowness of change in the
inequalities between women and men in these fields, and
women’s continuing lower rank in business and academic
positions. In developing countries, women`s labour and
entrepreneurial activity remains an ‘untapped resource’ for
economic growth. In recent years, the rising proportion of
women participating in the labour market has drawn the
attention of many scholars. This positive change towards
mobilising previously unused human resources is
perceived as one of the positive externalities enhanced by
the seemingly boundless flow of information and
communication technology. This research examines, from
a macroperspective, the association between economic
deployment of ICT, women`s labour market participation,
and economic growth in 64 developing countries between
1990 and 2017. We rely on the macrodata extracted from
the World Bank Development Indicators (2018), the
World Bank Enterprise Survey, the World Development
Reports and the World Telecommunication/ICT
Indicators Database (2018). Our methodological
framework, in addition to standard descriptive statistics,
combines time trends, graphical non-parametric analysis
and panel vector-autoregressive models.
18 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors investigated the length of retirement in Brazil and analyzed the evolution of labor force participation rates and retirement from the late '70s and forecast future trends of participation and duration of retirement.
Abstract: Population aging and recent trends in labor force participation rates are creating a considerable impact on public pension programs around the world. Brazil combines a sizeable public pension program, rapid population aging and a decline in the labor force of the elderly, imposing additional costs to the sustainability of the pension programs. In this paper, we investigate the length of retirement in Brazil and analyze the evolution of labor force participation rates and retirement from the late '70 s and forecast future trends labor force participation and duration of retirement. We use the Lee-Carter model to forecast labor force participation rates and combine those estimates to United Nations mortality forecasts to estimate the expected length of retirement to 2035. We find a steady decline in the labor force participation of young and older adults over time, mostly due to access to education and public pension programs. In contrast, for females, we observed a constant increase in the participation for the women in reproductive ages. Our forecasts indicate that older adults' labor force will decline in the future to levels compared to more developed economies. They also suggest that the expected length of retirement might increase from 12.5% to about 20%, from 1993 to 2035, of males adult working lives and from 11.47% to 27.41% for females. These trends, associated with population aging and longer life expectancy, reduce the ratio between workers and retirees, affecting the basic premise of the pay-as-you-go (PAYGO) system. The proposed model to forecast labor force rates works well in Brazil's case and provides essential insights into the future of the system. Analysis of pension sustainability should consider population aging as well as trends in labor force rates.
14 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors investigated the impact of improvement in health and education on employment opportunities for females in Nigeria over the period 1990-2016, using up-to-date econometric techniques.
Abstract: The sustainable development goals are a call to action to protect the planet and guarantee peace and prosperity for all people. Since inception, the sustainable development goals have brought about general improvements in the quality of life of females, especially in the aspects of health and education. The question however is whether these improvements also create more employment opportunities for females or not. This study attempts to provide empirical answers to this question by revisiting the determinants of labour force participation rate. The objective of the study is to investigate the impact of improvement in health and education on employment opportunities for females in Nigeria over the period 1990–2016, using up‐to‐date econometric techniques. Empirical revelations show positive and significant relationships between health status of females in Nigeria and their labour participation rate and also between the level of education of females in Nigeria and their labour participation rate. These outcomes resonate with existing literature. Thus, this study concludes that females with higher education and appreciable health statuses have better chances of participating in the labour force. Therefore, stakeholders and policymakers in Nigeria are encouraged to deliberately align with the sustainable development goals.
13 citations