Higher Labor Force Participation Rates Research Articles

Modeling Economic Growth in Papua Province Using Panel Data

This study aims to determine and analyze simultaneously the effect of Average Years of Schooling, and School Participation Rate on GRDPHB in Papua Province, the type of research used is the panel data regression model. This study uses panel data regression methods, the data used involves a combination of time series and cross-section data. The results showed a positive and significant effect of RLS and TPAK on GRDPHB in Papua Province with an adjusted R Square value of 0.998016 or 99.80%. This finding confirms the importance of focusing on improving the quality of education along with maintaining a high labor force participation rate as a strategy to strengthen Papua's economic base. Thus, human development and strengthening human resources will be the key to sustainable economic growth in Papua.

공통요인 효과를 고려한 아태지역 국가의 합계출산율 결정요인 분석

Purpose - This study examines the impact on total fertility rate in 30 countries in the Asia-Pacific region, focusing on female labor market participation and labor market instability. Design/Methodology/Approach - There is a common factors effect of cross-sectional dependence on the total fertility rate, explanatory variables, and residuals. Therefore, it was estimated using the CS-ARDL (Cross-Sectionally augmented Autoregressive Distributed Lags) model that considers the dynamics of total fertility rate, common factors effect, and heterogeneity by country. Findings - Female labor market participation and labor market instability have a negative (-) effect on the total fertility rate, but the coefficient of the interaction term is estimated to have a positive (+) sign, so it should be considered in the impact of the labor force participation rate and unemployment rate. Research Implications - A low female labor force participation rate and unemployment rate drive a high total fertility rate, but countries with a high labor force participation rate should have a high unemployment rate, and countries with a high unemployment rate should have a high labor force participation rate. Therefore, policies are needed to enable women to balance work and family life, and facilitate entry into the labor market.

Native American “deaths of despair” and economic conditions

“Deaths of despair” – deaths caused by suicide, drug use, and alcohol use – have increased among non-Hispanic whites who do not have a college degree. We analyze confidential-use data from the National Center for Health Statistics that contains death certificates from 2005 to 2017 (total of 21,177,490 records) linked with measures of local labor market activity. We show that deaths of despair are proportionally larger among Native Americans than non-Hispanic white Americans and that economic conditions have a different relationship with deaths of despair among Native Americans than for non-Hispanic white Americans. Improvements in economic conditions are associated with decreased deaths from drug use, alcohol use, and suicide for non-Hispanic white Americans. On the other hand, in counties with higher labor force participation rates, lower unemployment, and higher ratios of employees to residents, there are significantly higher proportions of Native American deaths attributed to alcohol and drug use.

The Effect of Education, Workforce, Economic Growth and Labor Force Participation Rate on City Labor Absorption in Aceh Province, Indonesia

The Labor Force Participation Rate (LFPR) provides an overview of the population aged 15 years and over who are active at working age, whether they are currently working, not yet working, or looking for work. By knowing the LFPR, the percentage of the working-age population that is economically active in a region can be known. The higher the LFPR, the higher the supply of available labor to produce goods and services. This study aims to analyze the effect of education, junior and senior high school workforce, economic growth, and labor force participation rates on employment absorption in the districts/cities of Aceh Province. The data used is secondary data with a time series from 2014 to 2021 and cross-sections from 23 districts/cities in Aceh Province. Data analysis used the Panel Regression Model with the Generalized Least Squares Method. The results showed that the workforce has a junior high school education, the average length of schooling, and the labor force participation rate positively affect employment. In contrast, the workforce has a high school education, and economic growth does not affect employment. Considering that the number of junior high school education staff is the largest, educational improvement must be carried out with government policies in remote areas in Aceh Province so that more highly educated workers can be absorbed.

Effect of Public Expenditure on Economic Growth in the Case of Ethiopia.

This study's primary goal was to explain how Ethiopia's economic growth affected government spending. The time series data utilized in the study were gathered between 1980 and 2018. The time series data were subjected to the Johansen cointegration test and the vector error correction model (VECM) in order to evaluate the short- and long-term correlations between public spending and economic growth in Ethiopia. According to the study, both long- and short-term economic growths are positively and significantly impacted by government spending on education. Long-term economic growth is negatively impacted by government expenditure on agriculture, while short-term effects are negatively impacted and considerable. In the long run, investment spending has a positive but negligible impact on economic growth; however, in the short run, it has a negative but large effect. Defense spending by the government has a positive and negligible effect on economic growth over the short and long terms. Both in the short and long terms, spending on health has a favorable and considerable impact on economic growth. According to the study, government spending on the education sector would help to foster the conditions that could result in higher labor force participation rates and, consequently, higher rates of economic growth. Aiming to establish a healthy and productive society that promotes economic progress, policy should focus on complementary measures to scale-up initiatives in the health sector.

You will take care of me when I am old: Norms on children’s caregiver obligations - An analysis with data from the European Values Study

Objective: We explore gender differences in support of the norm that children must provide care for their parents. Background: Society's values and norms play a crucial role in deciding whether to provide family care. We investigate these values and norms on family care by analyzing which individual and country level factors affect them. Method: We use data from the European Values Study wave 5 and multilevel regression techniques. The question, "Adult children have the duty to provide long-term care for their parents", serves as our dependent variable. The explanatory variables at the individual level are gender and further socio-demographic variables. At the country level, we include expenditures on health care, and the female labor force participation rate. Results: The results show that women, as well as those living in countries with high expenditure on health care and high female labor force participation rates, are less supportive of the norm that children have an obligation to provide care for their parents. Furthermore, the gender effect is stronger in countries with a higher female labor force participation rate. Conclusion: Norms and values on family care are not fixed and can change, as suggested by the differences between countries. They are also not shared by all social groups equally, as the differences between women and men and along other socio-demographics show.

Retrospectives: Sadie T.M. Alexander: Black Women and a “Taste of Freedom in the Economic World”

The employment history of African American women is notable because of their higher labor force participation rates compared to other women in the US. This essay discusses Sadie T.M. Alexander’s analysis of Black women and work based on her 1930s speeches and writings. Alexander assessed Black women workers’ contribution to Black American living standards and national output. A proponent of women’s gainful employment and economic independence, Alexander’s views on the benefits of industrial employment for women and family life stood in stark contrast to White social welfare reformers who discouraged maternal employment in favor of households with male breadwinners. Alexander criticized the unequal treatment of Black and White women under protective labor law, particularly with respect to domestic servants’ exclusion from New Deal minimum wage and maximum hour protections. The legacy of discriminatory policies continues to affect the economic status of African American women today through racial disparities in social welfare provisions and worker benefits.

О влиянии наличия гражданства принимающей страны на некоторые социально-экономические характеристики мигрантов и их положение на рынке труда

The article discusses the possible impact of migrants’ citizenship of the host country on their socio-economic characteristics. The topic of the economics of citizenship (in various aspects) is extremely relevant and found wide coverage in foreign literature. In domestic practice, it remains poorly developed due to the lack of data suitable for such studies. Comparative analysis of the characteristics of migrants, usually migrant-workers, and the local population can be often found in the publications of the Russian scientists, but rarely investigated is the question of how the economic characteristics of migrants who have already become Russian citizens differ from those of foreigners. In 2019, for the first time in the modular survey conducted by Rosstat on the basis of the Labor Force Survey (LFS), information was collected on the migration status of respondents: their country of birth and duration of residence in Russia. Combination of these variables with citizenship made it possible to distinguish three groups of respondents: migrants who already have Russian citizenship, foreigners, and non-migrants. The work with microdata at the level of descriptive statistics showed, as expected, that foreigners differ significantly from other groups of respondents. On average, they are younger, less educated, have a higher labor force participation rate, and are more likely to work in labor-intensive sectors of the economy that do not require high qualifications. The minimal differences between non-migrants and migrants with Russian citizenship may be related to a large proportion of migrants who moved to Russia long ago. The significant shortcomings of the survey questionnaire, combined with a very low representation of foreigners in the sample (which does not correspond to their share in the Russian population), limited the analytical potential of the information. Identification of methodological problems of the LFS concerning the collection of information on migration and the development of recommendations addressed to Rosstat became a special task of the study. The main conclusion of the article was that the potential of the LFS is not used for a comprehensive study of international migration, and the inclusion of the migration module in an unchanged form in the program of the regular LFS for 2021 and further can make the problem chronic.

Socioeconomic Status of Second-Generation Southeast Asians: New Evidence and Analysis

Over a million refugees and other immigrants arrived in the United States from Southeast Asia starting in 1975. Forty-five years later, their adult children have completed their education in the U.S. and entered the labor force. This study uses a large microdata sample from the American Community Survey to describe and compare the socioeconomic status of Southeast Asian American adults and native-born white adults. Results are disaggregated by gender, generation (Generation 1.5 and Generation 2), and ethnic group (Hmong, other Laotian, Cambodian, and Vietnamese). Regression analysis – controlling for age, educational attainment, and other factors – shows that native-born white men generally have higher predicted median hourly wages and earnings and higher labor force participation rates than Southeast Asian men, although Vietnamese men surpass white men in some measures. On the other hand, Southeast Asian women’s predicted median wages, earnings, and labor force participation rates exceed those of native-born white women.

The Impact of Inter-provincial Migration on the Labor Market Outcomes in Two Developed Provinces in South Africa

This study used the South African Census 2011 data to examine the impact of interprovincial migration on the labor market outcomes in the Western Cape and Gauteng, the two most developed and popular inter-provincial migration destination provinces in South Africa. In both provinces, the residents were divided into four groups: permanent residents, intra-provincial migrants, long-term inter-provincial migrants and short-term inter-provincial migrants. The descriptive statistics indicated that both short- and long-term inter-provincial migrants into the two provinces were likely to be young people aged 15-34 years, unmarried African urban residents with 11-12 educational years on average, coming from households with three members. These interprovincial migrants enjoyed lower unemployment rates than the permanent residents, but the intra-provincial migrants remained the best-performing group with the lowest unemployment rate and highest share of employed persons involved in formal sector activities. The study also conducted a multivariate econometric analysis with probit regressions on labor force participation likelihood, and Heckprobit regressions on employment likelihood (conditional on labor force participation). After controlling for differences in other characteristics (or ceteris paribus), compared to the permanent residents, it was evident that both short- and long-term inter-provincial migrants into Western Cape and Gauteng were about 3% significantly more likely to be employed. After examining migrants from the Eastern Cape to the Western Cape and migrants from Limpopo to Gauteng, the study found that both groups enjoyed a much higher labor force participation rate (above 70%) and lower unemployment rate (30%), compared to individuals who remained in the Eastern Cape and Limpopo (labor force participation rate: 45%; unemployment rate: 38%).

Everyday struggle - Gender Equal Working Conditions for Females in Cambodia?

Compared to other East Asian countries, Cambodia has relatively high female labor force participation rates. More than 75 percent of women are working, compared to the regional average of 60% (World Bank 2018). However, the educational background of many people, especially females coming from rural areas, is still poor in Cambodia, Therefore, the garment industry and the construction sector offer low-threshold job possibilities for less educated females in order to gain a stable income. Whereas the garment industry is defined as dominated by females, the construction sector is still characterized as typical male sector. The study aims to ask to what extend less educated females, coming from poor areas of Cambodia can enjoy and benefit from their work lives. In addition, gender stereotypes and gender inequality concerning the female workforce in garment and construction are presented. As previous research has focused on quantitative analysis, this study tried to explore perceptions of females working in the garment and construction sector by using the qualitative method of focus group discussions.

The Labor Market in Norway: 2000-2018

Norway has a rather high labor force participation rate and a very low unemployment rate. Part of the reason for this fortunate situation is the so-called “tripartism”: a broad agreement among unions, employers and government to maintain a high level of coordination in wage bargaining. This has led to downward real wage flexibility, which has lessened the effects of negative shocks to the economy. Reduced net immigration, especially from neighboring countries, also mitigated the negative effects of the oil price drop in 2014. A potential drawback of tripartism is the difficulty of reducing employee absences and disability.

A RISING TIDE LIFTS ALL BOATS: OLDER WORKER EMPLOYMENT RATES

U.S. population aging has been accompanied by aging of its workforce. One-fourth of workers are now 55+, a result of increasing labor force participation rates (LFPRs) of boomers. Older female LFPRs increased notably since 2000, now 34% (1.5 times greater than the 1947-2000 average). Older male LFPRs steadily declined for 50 years, but increased since 2000 (currently 45%). Despite higher LFPRs, many older workers are underemployed, unemployed or having trouble finding desired jobs. We conducted a pilot to test the hypothesis that areas with strong economic and overall-employment growth are more likely to have higher age 55+ LFPRs - i.e., strong overall demand should increase the likelihood that older persons are employed. Major metropolitan areas were selected because of their large labor pools and ACS age-specific labor force data. Of 318 large metros, we selected 14 whose 2017-2018 employment growth ranged from 0.7% to 3.3% (excluded were those with small negative change and those with concentrated special industries). Results: After calculating age-specific LFPRs from ACS five-year data and overall employment growth for each metro, we found a generally strong relationship between high growth and higher than average LFPRs for persons ages 55+. For example, two opposites: Dallas, with 3.2% employment growth, had age 55+ (five year intervals to 75+) LFPRs substantially higher than the national average (by 4-7 percentage points; significant at 0.05). But Pittsburgh, with 0.8% overall employment growth, had age 55+ LFPRs slightly lower than national average. Conclusion: A rising (economic/employment) tide lifts all boats, including older workers.

Transgender Men and Women in 2015: Employed, Unemployed, or Not in the Labor Force

ABSTRACT This study used data from the 2015 US Transgender Survey, which gathered information from the largest sample of trans individuals to date. High labor force participation rates and high unemployment rates were found for both trans men and women. However, women were more likely to be out of the labor force and less likely to be employed than men. The unemployment rate of trans women was greater than that of trans men with otherwise similar characteristics; these results are consistent with the existence of an additional labor market penalty for being female on top of a penalty for being transgender. While perceived gender incongruence (the ability of other people to identify transgender individuals as such) was more common among women, the relation of that variable with labor force status was stronger for men. There was no evidence that state-level employment non-discrimination laws were associated with improved labor force outcomes.

Social and Economic Impacts of International Marriages in Europe

The effect of international marriage - a union between a country native and an immigrant - on social and family outcomes is endogenous due to the selection into marriage markets and non-random spousal choice. In this paper we use availability of cheap airline flights as region-specific instrumental variable that increased the probability of intermarriage in Europe. The two-stage least squares analysis applied to 1977–2006 IPUMS International Project Census micro data shows no significant difference in the family size or number of children between intermarried and same-nativity couples. However, it does reveal higher labor force participation rates and much lower marriage rates among mixed nationality couples.

The labor market in Norway, 2000–2016

Norway has a high labor force participation rate and a very low unemployment rate. Part of the reason for this fortunate situation is so-called “tripartism”: a broad agreement among unions, employers, and government to maintain a high level of coordination in wage bargaining. This has led to downward real wage flexibility, which has lessened the effects of negative shocks to the economy. Reduced net immigration, especially from neighboring countries, has also mitigated the negative effects of the recent drop in oil prices. A potential drawback of this tripartism is, however, the difficulty of reducing employee absences and disability.

An Empirical Analysis of Substitution and Complementarity of Gender Labor Demand of Enterprises in Japan, Korea, and China: With a Factor Decomposition of Gender Wage Differentials

The purpose of this study is the effect of expansion of female labor demand on male labor demand for labor market reform to facilitate Japanese economic development. Firstly, the estimates using Hicks’ (1970) partial elasticity of complementarity and Allen’s (1938) partial elasticity of substitution revealed an increase in male labor demand when female labor demand increased in all three countries. The results were a relationship of complementarity in labor demand between male and female regular employees in the order of China, South Korea, Japan. However, a push factor or a pull factor is assumed to make up a complementarity relationship. Therefore secondly, the factor decomposition analysis of wage gap is used to investigate which factors are applicable. The gender wage gap consists of economic rationality and economic irrational discriminatory [Neumark (1988); Oaxaca and Ransom (1994)]. The gap was confirmed in all three countries. Although the actual gender average wage difference was small in China, “discriminatory preference theory” was suggested that there is underpayment of women in Japan and Korea. In Japan, as women have a high potential labor force participation rate, expansion of female labor demand seems promising as an economic policy, not least because of the declining population. Labor-related economic policies are needed, such as the creation of a fluid labor market in China, or the implementation of effective policies in Korea.

Trade Openness and Labor Force Participation in Africa: The Role of Political Institutions*

Trade liberalization is usually expected to lead to greater economic activity including higher labor force participation rates. Using data from forty‐eight Sub‐Saharan African countries over the period 1985–2012, we explore the impact of trade openness on labor force participation rates (LFPR), and examine how political institutions such as democracy, political rights, and civil liberties can play a role in driving this relationship in the above group of low‐income countries. The estimated marginal impact of openness on LFPR shows that LFPR is increasing with the level of institutional quality. In particular, political institutions are critical in enhancing the benefit from openness. Our conclusions are similar for male and female participation rates although the magnitudes of the former are higher, thus confirming that improving institutions can generate greater labor market benefits from trade in poor countries.

The Labor Market Effects of State and Local Expansions of the Earned Income Tax Credit

This study analyzes the labor market impact of state and local supplements to the federal Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) program. Using Current Population Survey data from 1984 to 2006, the study concludes the differential impact of the state and local government supplements of the EITC on the labor force participation rates of married women. In particular, states and local counties with an EITC supplement witness higher labor force participation rates amongst married women. However, no such differential impact is observed for the demographic group of unmarried females.

Poverty and the Labour Market in Indonesia: Employment Trends Across the Wealth Distribution

‘Poverty and the Labour Market in Indonesia: Employment Trends across the Wealth Distribution’, is among Indonesia’s first papers on the relationship between poverty and the labour market. It provides a detailed analysis of employment indicators (labour force participation rates, hours worked, and type and sector of employment) for the period 2000-2012 across the entire wealth distribution, by location, gender and various sociodemographic characteristics.Despite high economic growth rates, the creation of millions of new jobs, and a strong decrease in poverty rates in recent years, many Indonesians continue to live in poverty even when employed. This paper finds that the poor are as likely as the nonpoor to work, both at the extensive (labour force participation) and at the intensive (number of days and number of hours) margins. The reason for being poor despite being employed is therefore largely driven by other factors.In terms of household structure, clear evidence exists that the working poor need to share their income with a larger household, including economically nonactive members such as young children and the elderly. The higher dependency ratio contributes to their being/becoming working poor. Significant gender differences exist in the Indonesian labour market. Men show higher labour force participation rates and are more likely to work more hours compared with women. However, no strong gender differences were observed when comparing the working poor with the nonpoor.The authors observed that the relative share of the rural working poor as a portion of all working poor has increased over time and that the majority of the working poor are employed in the agricultural sector. Furthermore, the working poor are predominantly and increasingly (in relative terms) concentrated in the informal sector of the economy. An important finding concerns the role of education in the likelihood of being poor or nonpoor. Results also suggest that only the attainment of higher secondary and tertiary education seems to increase the likelihood of being meaningfully protected against poverty.