Search results

Three empirical regularities characterize markets for married workers: (1) productivity and leadership potential are predicted by intelligence; (2) assortative mating based on intelligence characterizes marriages; and (3) labor force participation declines with spouse income more rapidly for married women than for married men. Taken together these characteristics imply that labor force participation will decline for women relative to their husbands as intelligence rises. These three observations suggest a nondiscriminatory explanation for the alleged under-representation of females among corporate leaders. They imply that the women who might be predicted to win the tournament for these positions often do not enter this competition. Instead they choose employment in full time household production. Both the three regularities and the implication concerning labor force participation are empirically examined. The findings of these tests are supportive on all counts.

This chapter examines the relationship between the gender gap in labor force participation, intensive growth and economic welfare in Sub-Saharan African (SSA) from 1981 to 2020 under the framework of the classical production function. The generalized method of moment (GMM) technique was employed in analyzing the data. The empirical result showed a negative and significant effect of the gender gap in labor force participation on intensive growth. It was also found that the gender gap in labor force participation had a negative and insignificant effect on economic welfare in SSA. Other findings showed that male labor force participation had a positive and insignificant effect on both intensive growth and economic welfare, while female labor force participation had a negative and significant effect on intensive growth and a negative and insignificant effect on economic welfare. Trade openness had a positive and significant effect on both intensive growth and economic welfare. Based on the findings, narrowing the gender gap in labor force participation has to be given more considerable attention in the SSA region.

Introduction – Female employment and policies are an important aspect of growth and development. Inadequate utilisation of female labour force within the national economy reflects in economic and social indicators especially in developing countries. Women’s self-development, active participation in labour markets, and social and economic opportunities are the main factors in the development of countries. This study attempts to research the effects of female work force participation in the member countries of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) on economic growth in time period between 2004 and 2016. The countries were selected among the countries that have high and middle human development index according to Human Development Report in 2017.

Purpose – In this chapter, it is aimed to support the employment of female labour force and to show its share in development and growth in the member countries of the OIC. The aspect differs from similar studies to address the issue in term of Islamic countries.

Methodology – While analysing the impact of female employment on growth, the panel data analysis method and fixed and random effect model were used.

Findings – It has been found that female employment has a positive impact on economic growth for the selected OIC countries.

To investigate the extent to which disability discourages an individual from going on the job market, using data from an Italian survey.

We use an extended definition of labour force participation based on being employed or currently seeking work even if the persons declare themselves as housewives, students, retired or in any other condition otherwise. We use probit, sequential and multinomial logit models for analysing labour force participation and outcomes. We distinguish between the impact of disability in its strict sense and chronic illness explaining the difference.

In all variants we find that chronic illness is a stronger deterrent for labour force participation than disability. Women are more discouraged compared to men. Intellectual disability is the strongest barrier and hearing the least influential. In a sequential decision-making process, we find that disability affects both labour force participation decision and the ability to be employed but not so much the choice between part-time and full-time.

Policies providing tailored solutions for improved access to education and health care for disabled persons will enhance their work opportunities.

Data set is cross-sectional and characterised by attrition. It would be interesting to compare results with a longitudinal and more representative data set.

We have a unique data set from a survey which was specifically targeted at people who were identified as disabled in a previous survey. The Italian context is also special due to its high legal employment quotas and noncompliance sanctions.

This study investigates female labor force participation (FLFP) in Nigeria, over the period 1990–2020. It analyzes the effect of some poverty indices on FLFP, thereby contributing to the ongoing debate on female labor participation, particularly as it relates to household poverty and its alleviation. The study sources data from World Bank Data Bank and employs autoregressive distributive lags after confirming the stationarity of all variables of interest. While there is no long-run relationship among the variables of interest, the results from the short-run estimate show that one year lagged FLFP, fertility (family size), total unemployment and gender ratio in labor participation are poverty indices that positively influence female labor participation. On the other, female unemployment, male unemployment and GDP growth rate are negative determinants. However, female education and household income per capita as poverty indices are insignificant determinants of female labor participation for the period under study. These findings are important for government/policy-makers in Nigeria to develop a policy framework that can improve poverty in the country as well encourage FLFP in the country since their contributions have meaningful impact in alleviating household poverty and on the entire economy.

This paper analyzes the impact of immigration on low-skill native workers using pooled CPS data on cities in static and dynamic fixed effects models. Labor force participation is shown to be the dominant adjustment mechanism to immigrant inflows. Furthermore, native participation responses are stronger in immigrant-dense cities than in areas with sparser concentrations. These results hold after accounting for the potential endogeneity of immigrant locational decisions. The labor supply adjustments absorb most of the impact of immigration, and account for the weakness of the observed effects of immigration on wages and employment.

Population ageing, coupled with economic uncertainty and a shifting workforce structure, has directed the attention of public and organizational policy makers toward the potential contribution of older workers and skilled migrants in meeting labor supply shortages in ageing populations. This chapter presents labor supply and demand scenarios for 10 OECD countries and examines trends in the labor force participation of older workers against the backdrop of changes to the nature of work in an era of globalization, casualization, and, increasingly, automation. Brief analysis of each country’s situation and policy responses indicates that China, Japan, and Korea stand out as being at particular risk of being unable to maintain growth without undertaking drastic action, although their areas of focus need to differ. A limitation of the study is that GDP projections used in labor demand analysis were based on historical rates and represented past potential and a long-run average of historic economic output. Future research might also undertake comparative analysis of case studies addressing different potential solutions to workforce ageing. A key implication of the study is that there is a need to take a blended approach to public policy regarding older workers in a changing labor market. Where migration has historically been a source of labor supplementation, this may become a less viable avenue over the near future. Future shortfalls in labor imply that economies will increasingly need to diversify their sources of workers in order to maintain economic growth. For public policy makers the challenge will be to overcome public antipathy to migration and longer working lives.

Purpose – A central claim of the “added worker effect” is that married women increase their employment when husbands experience unemployment. This study evaluates the added worker effect in the context of the Great Recession. I examine whether married mothers increased their employment during the recession, and if the increase in employment occurred in households where the husband experienced unemployment.

Methodology/approach – I employ descriptive statistics and logistic regression models using 2006 and 2010 American Community Survey data.

Findings – I show that married mothers’ increased employment occurred in households that were less economically disadvantaged prior to the recession. The demand for married women's employment should have been stronger in households where men were employed in industries that were hard-hit by the recession. However, employment rates were lower among women married to men with lower earnings who were employed in the industries with the highest unemployment.

Social implications – These results show that women are not equally able to respond to husbands’ unemployment. Women with lower levels of education and lacking in job experience may be unable to obtain a job in a tight labor market. This may account for some of the household economic polarization and concentration of poverty in the last recession.

Originality/value of paper – Recent studies suggest that couples may be able to make up for spousal unemployment by increasing labor supply of other household members. However, these results indicate that the households that have the greatest need for additional workers may be those that have the most difficulty securing employment.

We examine the roles of sample initial conditions and unobserved individual effects in consistent estimation of the dynamic binary response panel data model. Different specifications of the model are estimated using female welfare and labor force participation data from the Survey of Income and Program Participation. These include alternative random effects (RE) models, in which the conditional distributions of both the unobserved heterogeneity and the initial conditions are specified, and fixed effects (FE) conditional logit models that make no assumptions on either distribution. There are several findings. First, the hypothesis that the sample initial conditions are exogenous is rejected by both samples. Misspecification of the initial conditions results in drastically overstated estimates of the state dependence and understated estimates of the short- and long-run effects of children on labor force participation. The FE conditional logit estimates are similar to the estimates from the RE model that is flexible with respect to both the initial conditions and the correlation between the unobserved heterogeneity and the covariates. For female labor force participation, there is evidence that fertility choices are correlated with both unobserved heterogeneity and pre-sample participation histories.