Abstract
The objective of this study is to provide evidence for the existence of threshold effects in trade openness, which affects the female labour force participation rate (FLFPR) in Asian countries. The authors employ the proportion of export, import and total trade volume to gross domestic product to denote export and import dependency and trade openness, respectively. The panel threshold regression results indicate that there exists an optimal value in the correlation between trade openness and FLFPR below which an increase in trade openness will enhance the FLFPR; an adverse relationship exists when trade openness exceeds the threshold value. This relationship is attributed to the trade-off between the cost reduction effect and the technology channel. Furthermore, the authors further categorise trade openness into export and import dependency. The findings reveal that export dependency also has a single threshold effect on FLFPR, while import dependency exerts a negative effect on FLFPR regardless of threshold effect. Therefore, the government could promote female participation in the labour force by regulating the export policy.
Highlights
The female labour force participation rate (FLFPR) can promote a nation’s potential output and economic development, as it increases labour supply and, the country’s production capability (Cooray, Dutta, & Mallick, 2017)
We concentrate on the effect of trade openness on FLFPR to verify the interaction between these two variables in the developing countries of Asia
The parameter estimates of the control variables, including gross domestic product (GDP) per capita, fertility rate, unemployment rate and educational attainment, are summarised in Table 3c, which shows that the estimated coefficients are a^1 1⁄4 1:838E–05, a^2 1⁄4 À1:618, a^3 1⁄4 À0:222 and a^4 1⁄4 0:146: In the homogeneous and heterogeneous standard deviations results, a^2, a^3 and a^4 are significant, thereby indicating that the fertility rate and unemployment rate are negatively correlated with FLFPR
Summary
ECONOMIC RESEARCH-EKONOMSKA ISTRAZIVANJA the reallocation of resources. Compared with males, females are more vulnerable to competition due to gender inequalities in wage gap and job seeking (Fofana, Cockburn, & Decaluwe, 2005). Gaddis and Pieters (2012) comprehensively demonstrate that countries with a greater degree of trade liberalisation significantly promote FLFPR and employment They point out that employment flows across sectors (from agriculture and manufacturing to trade and other service industries), male unemployment and labour market insecurity contribute to the number of active women in the economy. The greater the share of garments, textiles and electronics in export sectors, the greater the employment-creating impact of trade has been for women This finding is confirmed by Verick (2018); he proposes that female workers’ transition from agriculture to manufacturing is due to the improvement of export-oriented manufacturing in East and Southeast Asia.
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