Abstract
Saudi Arabia's Vision 2030 recognized female labor force participation as an important component for economic growth. This study investigates the relationship between female labor force participation rate, female tertiary school enrolment, female life expectancy and per capita income measured quarterly between 1991 and 2017. The study employs traditional unit root tests of Augmented Dickey-Fuller (ADF), Phillips-Perron (PP) and Kwiatkowski–Phillips–Schmidt–Shin (KPSS) complemented by Zivot and Andrews (ZA) test. Furthermore, for robustness check, combined cointegration test as prescribed by Bayer and Hanck (2013) and Pesaran ARDL bound tests were performed. Toda-Yamamoto causality test examined the causality flow among the variables. The result posits all independent variables have positive significant effect on female labor force participation rate within Saudi Arabia; rendering a policy recommendation: higher female labor participation can be achieved through investment in female education, health sector and achieving economic growth.
Highlights
An increase in female labour force participation is one of the major goals of Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 long-term strategy [KSA Vision 2030, 2017]
In 2019, the female labour force participation rate in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region was just 20.2% of the workforce, considerably low compared to the global figure of 47.7%
For Saudi Arabia, this study investigates the relationship between female labour force participation and health, female education and economic growth
Summary
An increase in female labour force participation is one of the major goals of Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 long-term strategy [KSA Vision 2030, 2017]. As the authorities strive to achieve this goal, it is necessary to understand the determinants of the female labour force participation rate in this Middle Eastern country. In 2018, women accounted for 49% of the nation’s population, only 23.4% were within the labour force. That was still an improvement over 1990, 2000 and 2015 when the participation rates were 14.2%, 16% and 20.2% respectively. A 2018 report by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) showed an increase in the global female labour force participation rate [IMF, 2018]. Governments and private institutions have contributed to improving the education, training, and health status of girls and women [Becker, 1994]
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