Infrastructure Index and Female Labor Force Participation in Developing-8 Countries: A Demand Side Approach

Abstract

The goal of the present paper is to determine the relationship between overall infrastructure and female labor force participation (FLFP) in developing-8 (D-8) countries consisting of Bangladesh, Egypt, Indonesia, Iran, Malaysia. Nigeria, Pakistan, and Turkey. This study incorporated the new global infrastructure index and its relevance to FLFP in D-8 countries for data period of 1980 to 2018. The index constructed through principal component analysis based upon three subcategories such as transportation, electricity, and Information and Communication Technology (ICT) consisting of 17 components. For empirical estimation of the long term relationship between FLFP and infrastructure in the macroeconomic environment, we employed a pooled mean group (PMG) based upon the Hausman Specification Test. Our analysis revealed that infrastructure is highly significant and positive for FLFP in D-8 countries. This implies women in developing-8 countries labor market participation can be enhanced by providing them better transportation, access to electricity, ICT access, ease of access to the workplace, and other market opportunities. This demonstrated that FLFP in D-8 countries constrained by demand-side factors such as lack of infrastructure facilities, barriers to access the job market, lack of internet and electricity facilities rather less likely constrained by individual or supply-side factors such as wages, education, household income, and cultural norms, etc. The government of the D-8 countries should increase the opportunities for FLFP by improving the access and quality of infrastructure as evident from the Overall infrastructure index and its long term impact on FLFP. Secondly, the government must also include gender dimension while framing the trade and investment policies so that more jobs can be created for females in these countries