Female labor participation in Iran: a structural model estimation
ISSN: 0144-3585
Article publication date: 2 March 2020
Issue publication date: 12 March 2020
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to determine why female labor force participation in Iran has been less than 20 percent.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors estimate a structural dynamic matching model of female participation using individual panel data in Iran. The study incorporates many factors such as wage, child cost, education, spouse employment and job market search parameters.
Findings
The study finds that gender discrimination in job finding has the biggest effect in reducing the rate of women's participation. If all market differences disappear, the female participation rate will increase by 12 percentage points to almost 27 percent, which is still much lower than that of developed countries with the average of 60 percent.
Originality/value
This study provides the first structural search model using a developing country's microdata to study female labor participation.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
Special thanks to Mohammad Vesal, Seyed Ali Madanizadeh, and Amir Reza Mohsenzadeh Kermani for their comments. We are also grateful to the staff at Statistical Center of Iran (SCI) for providing data.This paper is part of master thesis of Ms. Farahzadi at the Sharif University of Technology.
Citation
Farahzadi, S. and Rahmati, M. (2020), "Female labor participation in Iran: a structural model estimation", Journal of Economic Studies, Vol. 47 No. 1, pp. 1-19. https://doi.org/10.1108/JES-10-2017-0276
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2020, Emerald Publishing Limited