The Dynamics of Women’s Labor in Developing Countries: Effects of Economic Growth, Digitalization and Institutional Factors

The loss of womanpower in conspicuous leisure activities, unproductive household tasks, or various forms of "disguised unemployment," which can be seen in every society, is nowhere more evident than in the cities of underdeveloped countries. In urban areas of Egypt, Iran, and Pakistan, for example, less than 15 percent of all women aged 15-64 are in the labor force. In many cities of Latin America and the Caribbean, to be sure, over 30 percent of all working-age women are in the labor force, but from one-third to half of those who work are employed in domestic service. If more effective use is to be made of the potential womanpower in urban areas, it will be necessary both to increase women's work-participation rates and to channel their labor into genuinely productive tasks. The general trends of development of a modern women's labor force, some effects of this development, and some sources of resistance to it are considered in this paper.

This paper describes how the composition of the labor force changes with economic development. It considers recent trends in women's labor force participation and the type of jobs held in various sectors as national per capita income increases. The paper notes that women are more likely to work in the family or informal labor market if the labor costs to firms exceed the opportunity costs of female labor to family enterprises. Firms are at a relative disadvantage compared with families in the employment of less experienced and less skilled labor, presumably because their labor costs are affected by such regulations as minimum wage, social insurance premiums and limits on firing. In Asia and Africa, an increase in the proportion of employment in firms within the major sectors accounts for most of the rapid growth in women's overall share of wage employment. In Latin America, however, growth in the proportion of firm employment has been slower than elsewhere, and the share of women in wage employment has even fallen overall in several countries. It is not unreasonable to assume that women have lost more than men from market regulations and distortions, but little research has addressed this proposition. If it is true, however, these interventions in the labor market may be responsible for slowing women's transition from nonmarket and family work to firm employment. This in turn may affect the rate and structure of economic growth.

CONTENTS List of Tables and Figures xxx Acknowledgments xxxs Chapter One Gender Inequality and Social Change in Japan and Taiwan 1 Chapter Two The Development of Women's Labor Market Experiences 000 Chapter Three Comparing Labor Market Structures and Workplace Dynamics 000 Chapter Four Patterns of Labor Exits among Women 000 Chapter Five Challenges from the Home Front 000 Chapter Six Returning to the Labor Force 000 Chapter Seven Higher Education and Gender Inequality 000 Chapter Eight Conclusion 000 Appendix A Description of the Data Sources 000 Appendix B Supplementary Tables 000 Notes 000 Bibliography 000 Index 000 [[starts on page vii]] TABLES AND FIGURES Tables 1.1. Comparison of Japan and Taiwan 000 2.1. Average number of jobs experienced throughout men's and women's employment careers 000 2.2. Distributions of current labor market locations by gender and frequency of employer changes 3.1. Occupational Distributions of the Female Labor Force in Japan and Taiwan 6.1. Description of Work Trajectories of Homemaking Women, Ages 25-60 B.1. Descriptive Statistics of the SSM and TSC Samples by Gender B.2. Ordinary Least Squares Regression Analysis of Log Annual Earnings B.3. Discrete-Time Event History Models Predicting Labor Force Exits at Any Point of Time B.4. Discrete-Time Event History Models Predicting Labor Force Exit upon Marriage B.5. Discrete-Time Event History Models Predicting Labor Force Exit around First Childbirth B.6. Discrete-Time Event History Models Predicting Labor Force Reentry B.7. Multinomial Logit Models Predicting Married Women's Current Work Status in Japan B.8. Multinomial Logit Models Predicting Women's Current Occupational Status B.9. Multinomial Logit Models Predicting Women's Current Organizational Locations B.10. Multinomial Logit Models Predicting Women's Current Employment Status Figures Annual economic growth rates in Japan and Taiwan, 1956-2005 000 Women's Labor Force Participation and Number of Children by Age Group Age Distributions of Brides and Mothers Giving Live Birth in 2004/2005 Attitudes Regarding Gender Roles in Japan and Taiwan Trends in Female Labor Force Participation During the Life Course Distributions of Women's Careers in Japan and Taiwan Proportion of Ever-Married Women Returning to the Labor Force by Various Ages Percentage of Workers with Experience of Within-Organizational Job Shifting by Current Occupation Job Mobility and Percent Changes in Annual Earnings Predicted Annual Earnings by Gender, Country, and Employment Status 3.1. Distribution of the Labor Force by Industry, 1951-2000 3.2. Unemployment and Nonfarm Labor Force Growth Rates, 1950-2000 3.3. Annual Increases in the Male Population of Working Age, 1950-2000 3.4. Comparisons of the Labor Force by Firm Size in Japan and Taiwan 4.1. Explanatory Framework 4.2. Occupational Effects on Ever-Married Women's Labor Force Exits at Various Times 4.3. Effects of Firm Size on Ever-Married Women's Labor Force Exits at Various Times 4.4. Relative Odds of Labor Force Exit of Public- to Private-Sector Employees 4.5. Effects of Individual Characteristics on the Likelihood of Exiting the Labor Force 4.6. Predicted Probabilities for Labor Force Exit in the Marriage Year 5.1. Percentage of Japanese Men at Home by Eight O'Clock on Weekdays 5.2. Percent Approval of Working Mothers with Young Children among Taiwanese Women, by Education 5.3. Trends of Male-Wage-to-Household-Spending Ratio and Family Size, 1965-2000 6.1. Labor Force Participation Rates of Seven Birth Cohorts at Various Ages 6.2. Estimated Probability of Labor Force Reentry, Hypothetical Cases 6.3. Comparison of Occupations before and after a Work Interruption 6.4. Comparison of Firm Size between the Female Labor Force and Women Reentrants 6.5. Comparison of Employment Status between the Female Labor Force and Women Reentrants 6.6. Effects of Postmarital Entry on Women's Current Work Status in Japan 7.1. School Systems in Japan and Taiwan 7.2. Estimated Advancement Rates to Various Educational Institutions among Taiwanese Middle- School Graduates, 1950-1998 7.3. Trends in Percent Female among Students in Tertiary Institutions 7.4. Trends in Percent Female Students Admitted to the University of Tokyo and National Taiwan University 7.5. Percentage of Students in Applied Science Programs by Educational Level in Taiwan 7.6. Percent Female Students in Four-Year Universities by University Ownership 8.1. Likelihood of Job Locations of Married versus Single Women 8.2. Comparisons of Japanese Women's Occupational Distributions 8.3. Percentage of Ever-Married, Working-Age Taiwanese Women in the Labor Force by Their First Occupation 8.4. Job Growth Rates by Gender and Employment Status in Japan, 1996-2007

Rapid fertility decline, a strong expansion of female education, and favorable economic conditions should have promoted female labor force participation in developing countries. Yet trends in female labor force participation rates (FLFP) have been quite heterogeneous, rising strongly in Latin America and stagnating in many other regions, while improvements were modest in the Middle East and female participation even fell in South Asia. These trends are inconsistent with secular theories such as the feminization U hypothesis but point to an interplay of initial conditions, economic structure, structural change, and persistent gender norms and values. We find that differences in levels are heavily affected by historical differences in economic structure that circumscribe women's economic opportunities still today. Shocks can bring about drastic changes, with the experience of socialism being the most important shock to women's labor force participation. Trends are heavily affected by how much women's labor force participation depends on their household's economic conditions, how jobs deemed appropriate for more educated women are growing relative to the supply of more educated women, whether growth strategies are promoting female employment, and to what extent women are able to break down occupational barriers within the sectors where women predominantly work.

We address several key hypotheses about the effects of socioeconomic development on women's labour force participation during the transition from agriculture to industrialism. To this end, we explore differences in women's labour force participation in Brazil by education, marital status, age, and urban or rural residence. We also show how socioeconomic development affects the overall level of women's participation and the differentials by education, etc. Our data are drawn from a large 1973 PNAD (Pequisa Nacional por Amostra de Domicilos) survey conducted by the Brazilian census bureau. Socioeconomic development in different parts of Brazil ranges from pre-industrial agriculture to heavy industry. Using logistic regression, we show that the general level of women's labour force participation does not change with the level of development. Highly educated women are much more likely than the less educated to be in the labour force (net of other influences); this difference is substantially greater than in post-industrial societies. Somewhat surprisingly, the influence of education is the same across the range of development levels in Brazil. Single women are more likely to be in the labour force than married women, and the difference grows during development. Age has a curvilinear relationship to labour force participation, and the old are much less likely to participate in more developed places. Rural women are slightly more likely to be in the labour force at all levels of development.

Abstract. The paper contributes by providing new insights into the relationship between female labor force and economic growth in 162 world countries over the period 19902012. It was hypothesized that an analysis would reveal a U-shaped relationship between female labor force participation and economic growth. The analysis is run from two different perspectives - in the first, the relationship is examined for a sample encompassing 162 countries; and in the second - the evidence is disaggregated and the relationship is re-examined within four income-groups (low-income, lower-middle-income, upper-middle-income and high-income). To examine these relationships, data on female labor force participation and per capita income are extracted from the World Development Indicators 2013 database, and the relationship is examined by deploying panel data analysis assuming non-linearity between variables. The main findings support the hypothesis of the U-shaped relationship between female labor force participation and economic growth, however high cross-country variability on the field is reported. Moreover, the U-shaped feminization hypothesis was not positively verified in the case of low-income countries.Keywords: women, female labor force, feminization, U-shaped curve, economic growthJEL classification: J21, O10, O50IntroductionThe worldwide trends can be summarized as exhibiting a relatively steady relationship between women`s participation in the labor market and the stage of economic growth. A great majority of empirical studies demonstrate that in the initial phases of economic growth female labor force participation tends to be decreasing, while after reaching a certain level of output per capita, a positive relationship emerges and women`s engagement in the labor market grad-10.14254/2071789X.2015/8-1/19 ually increases. In this vein, the following paper contributes to the present state of knowledge by providing extensive evidence on re-examination of the hypothesis, according to which the statistical relationship between female labor force participation and economic growth follows the U-shaped pattern.The main goal of the paper is twofold. First, the authors provide new evidence on the U-shaped association between female labor force participation and economic growth in 162 countries over the period 1990-2012. To enrich the analysis, the authors deliberately disaggregate the evidence and exhibits by examining relationships in four distinct income-groups, namely: low-income, lower-middle-income, upper-middle-income and high-income countries1. Disaggregating the evidence sheds light on the issue providing a novel insight, and allows us to determine whether the U-feminization hypothesis is revealed only in the world sample, or -preferably - is held in respective income-groups. The data used in the consecutive analysis are exclusively derived from the World Development Indicators 2013 database. To meet the main empirical objectives, the preliminary graphical evidences are supported by the static and dynamic panel econometric methods.This paper is structured as follows. The introductory part is followed by sections explaining the conceptual background, data and methodological strategy. Sections 4 and 5 demonstrate empirical results, and the last part is the conclusion.1. BackgroundIn 1965 Sinha suggested that the feminization of labor force and the level of economic growth are described by the long-term U-shaped relationship. Since then onward, a substantial body of both theoretical and empirical evidence has concentrated on the cited relationship, giving updated insights into the issue. Although the relationship between female labor force participation and the level of economic growth is relatively stable and robust over time, still the outcomes vary if accounting for various countries or country groups.As already argued, a sizeable amount of evidence suggests a U-shaped relationship between female labor force (FLF) participation and economic growth (Tam, 2011; Lechman and Okonowicz, 2013; Olivetti, 2013; Tsani et al. …

Background: In the last few decades, there has been a significant increase in women's participation in gainful employment in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). This scooping review has primarily aimed at assessing the key determinants and effects of women's involvement in the labor force in SSA.
 Methods: The authors did the review based on 19 articles selected from PubMed and goggle search. The selection considered only those published in the last 15 years, conducted based on large sample from Sub-Saharan African countries, and those exclusively related to women’s Labor Force Participation (LFP). More than 80% of the reviewed studies (16 of the 19) employed a cross-sectional study design with quantitative approaches.
 Results: The review witnessed that women's labor force participation in SSA is determined by various individual, household, and community characteristics. Women with lower fertility, living in poor economic condition (low wealth quantiles), and those with above primary education were more likely to participate in gainful employment. Other demographic factors explaining why some women participate in the labor force more often than others include women's age, marital status, number of under-five children, household size, and headship. Among the community variables, living in areas with better infrastructure (transport and communication) increased the likelihood of women’s participation in gainful employment. Nearly all studies showed significant positive impacts of women's labor force participation on several domains of women's life and household well-being, such as on women's nutrition, childcare, and health service utilization.
 Conclusion: The review implies that despite concerns about some adverse impacts of women's participation in gainful employment (such as on childcare), most of the studies indicated positive effects of LFP on women's and children's health, nutrition, and overall household well-being in SSA.

Working Paper 2005-18 August 2005 Abstract: This paper determines that the weaker positive pull of education into the labor market and weaker labor market conditions are the observed factors that contributed the most to the decline in the labor force participation rate (LFPR) between 2000 and 2004 among women ages 25-54. As is typical, however, unobserved factors contributed more than any single or combination of observed factors. Furthermore, if the unemployment rate rebounded to its level in 2000, the LFPR would still be 1.4 percentage points lower than it was in 2000. JEL classification: J22, J11 Key words: female labor force participation, labor supply, labor force participation over the business cycle What's Up With the Decline in Female Labor Force Participation? I. Introduction and Background Since the late 1940s the percent of the male population participating in the labor force has been on a steady decline, while female labor force participation has been steadily increasing. Figure 1 illustrates these long-term trends. The decline in male labor force participation has been attributed to a variety of factors. The institution of Social Security in 1935; its expansion to include disability insurance and Medicaid; and the Revenue Act of 1942, which granted tax incentives for firms to establish private pension plans, have been found to have contributed significantly to the decline (for example, see Burtless and Moffitt 1984, Helmuth Cremer, et al. 2004, Gruber 2000, and Lumsdaine, et al. 1997). These policies provided both greater incentives to claim a work-inhibiting disability and to retire earlier from the labor market. Another explanation offered to explain the decline of male labor force participation among all age groups is the increase in female labor force participation. With labor supply decisions often made in a household (husband-wife) setting, the increase in family income from more wives working provides an income effect incentive for husbands to decrease their labor supply. [FIGURE 1 OMITTED] The rise in female labor force participation has several explanations, as well. A major determinant of the increase in labor force participation are the biotechnological advancements that have provided women greater control over and timing of child bearing decisions since the 1940s (see Bailey 2004). This greater flexibility, along with advancements in household technologies (such as the introduction of the dishwasher and microwave oven) have afforded women greater freedom and time to increase their educational attainment, providing yet another reason to devote more time to the labor market (see Goldin 1995). Further, changing social attitudes about the role of women and the appropriateness of women (and wives) to work have increased the job opportunities and, thus, the incentives for women to enter the labor market (see Rindfuss et al. 1996). While the on-going decline in male labor force participation and the long-lived rise in female labor force participation have received much attention over the years, there has been a more recent change in the trend of labor force participation among women since 2000 that begs further scrutiny. Figure 2 plots the change in labor force participation rates between 2000 and 2004 for women across age categories. The figure shows that the decline in labor force participation has occurred across all age groups, except those 55 and older. While the 16-19 and 55+ age groups deserve their own analyses, this paper focuses on the change in labor force participation of those women who comprise the bulk of the female labor force, those 25-54 years of age. (1) These women made up 69% of the female labor force in 2004. [FIGURE 2 OMITTED] The importance of identifying the source of the unprecedented decline in female labor force participation lies in the value of knowing whether the decline is the beginning of a new trend or whether it is temporary and likely to reverse itself. …

Purpose: This study aims to examine the impact of women's empowerment on female labor force participation in ASEAN countries. Women's empowerment is measured through variables such as education, health, wages, parliamentary representation, fertility rates, and maternal mortality rates.Method: This research employs a panel data approach by applying the Random Effects Model (REM) across 10 ASEAN member countries. Socio-economic and demographic indicators are integrated to assess the extent to which these variables influence female labor force participation.Result: Research findings indicate that education, access to healthcare services, and low maternal mortality rates positively contribute to increasing women's labor force participation. Conversely, factors such as low wage levels, limited female representation in parliament, and high fertility rates serve as barriers.Practical Implications for Economic Growth and Development: This study identifies key factors influencing female labor force participation and provides strategic recommendations for policymakers in the ASEAN region. Improving women's access to education and healthcare services is expected to foster inclusive development, reduce gender disparities, and strengthen the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), particularly in the areas of gender equality and decent work.Originality/Value: This study makes a novel contribution by incorporating rarely discussed variables such as maternal mortality rates and fertility levels in a region characterized by diverse socio-economic conditions. It offers deeper insights into the driving forces behind female labor force participation in ASEAN countries.

One effect of Southern Europe's rapid fertility decline is the emergence of a positive cross-country correlation between women's labor force participation and fertility across developed countries, despite the continuing negative correlation between these factors within countries. This study uses individual-level data for several OECD countries to examine how men's participation in home production can explain the positive relationship between fertility and women's labor force participation at the cross-country level. It finds that women living in countries where men participate more in home production are better able to combine having children with market work, leading to greater participation in the labor force at relatively high fertility levels. Within each country however, women with higher relative wages continue to have lower fertility and to participate more in the labor force than lower-paid women due to the higher opportunity cost of remaining at home. This finding on men's home production can thus explain the positive cross-country correlation between female labor force participation and fertility.

Utilizing data from 61 societies, this inquiry focuses on women's labor force participation as a characteristic of the social structure. First, the analysis demonstrates that participation is positively related to economic development and divorce rate and negatively related to fertility and income inequality. While the effect of economic development is mediated by various aspects of familial composition, the most significant effect on female labor force participation is that of income inequality. In societies where inequality is high, women are less likely to join the labor force. The analysis goes on to demonstrate that female labor force participation has consequences for occupational discrimination. The odds that women can achieve high status and well-paid occupations decrease with the proportion of women in the labor force. The findings reported here suggest strongly that the integration of females into the labor force is determined by the shape of the stratification system. Such integration, however, results in occupational discrimination. The meaning and significance of the findings are discussed in the light of sociological theories.

T HE steady increase in the labor force participation of married women in the United States over the last few decades has stimulated considerable interest in the economic analysis of a woman's decision Pioneering work by Mincer (1962) and Cain (1966) has served as a theoretical and empirical foundation for numerous studies of female labor force participation. This research typically treats a woman's current labor force status (measured as a dummy variable for the individual and as a rate for the population) as a measure of labor supply which depends upon economic and demographic characteristics such as female earnings, male earnings, non-earnings income, schooling, work experience, age, number of children, and so on. (Notable examples are Bowen and Finegan (1969), Cogan (1975, 1978), Gronau (1973), Heckman (1974, 1980), and Schultz (1980).) While the associated theoretical models and statistical techniques have been refined considerably (especially by Lewis (1972), Ben-Porath (1973), and Heckman (1974, 1979)), the coefficients estimated using U.S. data have remained reasonably robust. Also, there is substantial agreement among micro-level and aggregate results. (See Cain (1966) and Bowen and Finegan (1969) for comparisons.) As this body of literature has grown, the economic models developed within it have been implemented analyze the labor force behavior of women in other countries. However, there is no consistent international pattern in the behavioral trends of the female labor force. Perhaps the most notable difference in the economic opportunities available women in many other countries is that they may work in the sector of the labor market. Women may be considered economically active and may be counted as being in the labor force as they produce goods at home for market sale, work on the family farm, or work in a small family-run business. The most convenient means of categorizing workers as being in the sector is by their employment status. Following Jaffe and Azumi (1960) we assume that women reported as self-employed or as family workers are engaged in the informal sector of the labor force. Almost all women in the U.S. labor force work as employees; only 6.6% worked as self-employed or family workers in 1978. Given Japan's advanced economic development, a surprisingly large fraction (38.4% in 1978) of its female labor force comprises self-employed and family workers.' Clearly, in the United States and countries with a similar distribution of the labor force by employment status, the labor force participation decision may be treated as the choice to work or not work. However, if individuals regard the decision enter the labor force as an employee as being distinct from the choice enter the labor force as a family worker, then economic models of labor force participation which treat these choices as identical will incorporate a specification bias. The labor force participation decision may differ between these two sectors for several reasons. First, the wage offers may differ by sector. Second, while entering the informal sector may be virtually frictionless, there may be fixed costs (among them commuting time and child care) associated with working in the formal sector. Third, family workers may face more flexible working schedules than paid employees; the latter group may be subject contractual working hours. In order treat the labor force decisions in coiuntiNes with significant informal sectors. this Received for publication March 16, 1981. Revision accepted for publication September 15, 1982. * Rutgers University. This paper is a revision of work begun with my doctoral dissertation. I would like thank H. Gregg Lewis and T. Dudley Wallace for their suggestions and Hideo Okamoto for providing the data set. I would also like thank David Crawford, Toshiaki Tachibanaki, two anonymous referees, and the participants of the Columbia Labor Workshop, the Japan Economic Seminar, and the Yale Labor and Population Workshop for their comments. Remaining errors are my own. This research was supported by a postdoctoral fellowship from the National Institutes of Health. Additional funding was provided by the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation grant the Yale Economic Demography Program. I Statistical Abstract of the U.S. and Japan Statistical Yearbook.

The relationship between gender inequality and economic growth has become one of the most interesting and debated issues both in the academic literature and the policy arena. The aim of this study is to investigate how gender inequalities in the labour force participation (LFP) in North Cyprus undermine the per capita output of the country. Thus, the study is designed to estimate the simulation of a possible increase in per capita GDP based on 2011 data generated by the catch up of north female labour force participation rates to the south for the year 2011. Different age categories for female labour force are considered for the measurement. The age categories distributed within the working age population including female labour force population between the ages 15 and over. The age categories are divided into 5 groups as including the female participants between the age from 15 to 24, 25 to 34, 35 to 44, 45 to 54, and 55 and over. Data used is obtained from the State Planning Organization (SPO) of North Cyprus government for North Cyprus and from the World Bank database for South Cyprus. The North Cyprus labour force participation rates are adjusted to the south as suggested by Bryant et. al. (2004). Parallel to the previous literature, it is found that female labour force participation (FLFP) rate has a positive impact on GDP in North Cyprus. There would have been a 4% higher per capita GDP with the catch up of north to south FLFP rate which might be a substantial contribution towards decreasing the income gap between north and south.

The purpose of this research is to reveal the relationship between women’s education, women's labor force participation and national income in G20 countries. The relationships between women's education, women's labor force participation and national income were analyzed by the panel data analysis method for the G20 countries for the period 1997-2018. Stability of series were tested by Fisher ADF and Fisher PP panel root tests and the series were determined to be I (1). Pedroni (2004) was used to test the existence of cointegration relationships between the series. The series were found to be cointegrated. The long- and short-term relationships of the series were analyzed by the Panel DOLS method and it is determined that the increase of female schooling level increase the female labor force participation rate, increase of female schooling level and female labor force participation rate increase the per capita (real) national income. A two-way causality relationship was found between the ratio of women in higher education and national income per person. In addition, two-way causality relations between women's labor force participation rates and schooling rates at all levels of women were determined. In the study, it is concluded that in G20 countries, women's schooling rate increases the women's participation in the labor market and increases of women's schooling rate and female employment increase the national income per capita in countries. Article visualizations:

Female labor force participation in the US: How is immigration shaping recent trends?