Increase In Labor Force Participation Research Articles

Educational Expansion as a Driver of Longer Working Lives?

This study investigates the contribution of educational expansion to changes in labour force participation among Europeans aged 55-74 between 2000 and 2019, while accounting for changes in educational inequalities in labour market activity. We use data from the European Union Labour Force Survey (EU-LFS) for 26 countries and Kitagawa-Oaxaca-Blinder decomposition methods to analyse the extent to which changes in the education structure may account for rises in labour force participation rates among older workers in these countries, and the degree to which returns to education have changed. Overall, we found that educational expansion is positively associated with increases in labour force participation, albeit with substantial cross-country variation in the scale of this association. A driving factor was the decrease in the share of the population with low education levels, followed by an increase in the share of those with high education levels. While activity rates rose in most countries and among all levels of education, the largest increases were observed among people with a medium level of education. Activity rates of low-educated older workers, especially women, grew at a substantially lower pace in some countries, exacerbating educational inequalities in labour force participation at older ages. The study suggests that educational expansion has been a driver of longer working lives in Europe. However, it also indicates that changes in health, working conditions and age norms at the microlevel, as well as pension and labour market reforms at the macrolevel, can be assumed to have played a dominant role in countries where increases in labour force participation were the most significant.

Enhancing Environmental Quality: Investigating the Impact of Hydropower Energy Consumption on CO2 Emissions in Indonesia

Achieving sustainable environmental quality has become a critical global issue, necessitating the reduction of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions to mitigate environmental pollution. Hydropower energy has the potential to play a significant role in this effort by providing a clean, renewable energy source that can help reduce reliance on fossil fuels and decrease CO2 emissions. This study examines the dynamic impact of hydropower energy consumption, economic growth, capital, and labor on Indonesia's CO2 emissions from 1990 to 2020. Applying the Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) method, the findings demonstrate that hydropower energy consumption has a negative effect on CO2 emissions in both the short and long term, indicating that increasing hydropower energy consumption leads to a reduction in CO2 emissions. Conversely, labor exhibits a positive influence on CO2 emissions in both the short and long term, suggesting that a rise in labor contributes to higher levels of CO2 emissions in Indonesia. Furthermore, the Granger causality analysis reveals a bidirectional relationship between CO2 emissions and hydropower energy consumption. The robustness of ARDL results is confirmed through additional tests using Fully-Modified Ordinary Least Squares (FMOLS), Dynamic Ordinary Least Squares (DOLS), and Canonical Cointegrating Regressions (CCR) methods. The findings underscore the importance of promoting sustainable hydropower energy for effective environmental management in Indonesia. Policymakers should prioritize investments in sustainable hydropower infrastructure, encourage the adoption of energy-efficient technologies, and develop a skilled workforce to mitigate the environmental impact of increased labor force participation.

Free, full‐day programming for four‐year‐old children in Nova Scotia and women's labour market outcomes

AbstractDespite significant changes in gender norms over the 20th century and a substantial increase in women's labour force participation, women continue to provide the majority of unpaid child care. This poses a barrier to further improvements in women's labour force participation, especially when child care is limited, inaccessible or unaffordable. This paper explores the impact of substantial increases in child care accessibility and affordability on women's labour market outcomes by exploiting the rollout of free, full‐day programming for four‐year‐old children in Nova Scotia from 2017/18 to 2020/21 using a staggered difference‐in‐differences approach. The program led to a 21 percentage‐point increase in the labour force participation of mothers with four‐year‐old children in Nova Scotia, via increased employment. Unsurprisingly, these impacts are significantly larger for women whose youngest child is four years old.

Productive and Decent Work Employment Opportunities: Reflections of Sustainable Development Goal 8

This study measures the impact of seven indicators of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) on Goal 8, which is about productive and decent work and employment opportunities in India. The study employs pooled ordinary least squares (POLS) methods to capture the impact of seven indicators— annual growth rate of real GDP per capita, ease of doing business, unemployment rate, labour force participation rate, participation of informal workers, fatal and non-fatal occupation injuries, and banking outlets, on SDG 8, for 2018-2021. The findings reveal that the annual growth rate of real GDP per capita, labour force participation rate, and ease of doing business influence SDG 8’s score positively and significantly. On the contrary, the unemployment rate impacts sustainable score value negatively and significantly. The inferences of the study did not unwrap a significant effect of the percentage of workers in the informal sector, fatal and non-fatal occupation injuries and the number of banking outlets on SDG8. The study recommends reducing unemployment and increasing labour force participation rates in the economy for sustainability. At the same time, policymakers must focus on enhancing the ease of doing business and the annual growth rate of real GDP per capita to realise decent work and employment opportunities. To advance sustainable development goals, especially SDG 8, fostering sustainable and inclusive economic growth is the need of the hour.

Paid family leave and the fight against hunger: Evidence from New York.

We examine the effects of New York's paid family leave (PFL) policy, introduced in January 2018, on food security. While researchers evaluating PFL policies in the past have mostly focused on employment and health outcomes, we believe that an improved understanding of potential impacts on food security is pivotal as it is directly related to the health and well-being of mothers and new-borns during the postnatal months. Our analysis uses two primary data sets-Current Population Survey Food Security Supplement (CPS-FSS) and Panel Study of Income Dynamics. Estimating difference-in-differences and triple difference models, we show that New York's PFL reduced the prevalence of low food security by 36% in both datasets. The positive effects are more sizable for households with low-educated heads and families with incomes under 185% of the Federal Poverty Line. These findings highlight that paid leave benefits lead to a larger reduction in food insecurity among disadvantaged families and thus have the potential to reduce existing societal inequalities. When examining potential mechanisms through which New York's PFL law improves food security, we show that the policy increased food expenditures, increased labor force participation, particularly by mothers, and improved parental health.

Development effects of industrialization, labor force participation and electrification on productive capacity in Africa: A panel data investigation

In our study spanning 2010–2022 across 50 African economies, we investigated the effects of industrialization, labor force participation, and electrification on Africa’s productive capacity. We also examined how electrification moderates the effect of industrialization and labor force participation on productive capacity. We adopted the pooled OLS, the fixed effect estimator, and the dynamic system GMM estimation technique for our analysis. Our findings indicate industrialization, labor force participation, and electrification as potent channels for enhancing Africa's productive capacity. In tandem with Africa’s reality, we find that electrification isn’t moderating the positive impact of industrialization and labor force participation on productivity. Our findings also revealed human capital development, government health expenditure, and institutional quality as pivotal drivers of productive capacity in Africa, while factors like global economic policy uncertainty and natural resource endowment exhibit predominantly negative roles. These results underscore the need for African policymakers and leaders to foster an enabling environment that facilitates industrialization, increased labor force participation, and improved electricity access to promote economic performance and productivity.

Public Child Care Provision: Unraveling the Consequences of Implementation Variations for Women's Time Allocation

Abstract From analysis of the effects of a national childcare policy on women's time allocation in Costa Rica, it is found that childcare services are associated with increased female labor force participation, greater educational enrollment, and reduced unpaid care work. However, a comparison of two implementing agencies indicates that the overall effects vary by agency. One agency's services yield positive outcomes, such as increased labor force participation, reduced unpaid care work, and increased educational attendance; the other agency's results are less favorable, particularly for part-time childcare users. These findings highlight the challenges governments face when scaling up interventions, as different implementing agencies may modify program criteria, serve distinct populations, and offer varying services. While policies can be effective on a smaller scale, impacts may differ when they are scaled up. Understanding these variations can help governments adapt policies and reallocate resources to achieve their intended goals.

Forecasting the potential output and growth of the manufacturing industry: a case study of Indonesia's manufacturing sector

Indonesia is currently experiencing deindustrialization, characterized by a manufacturing industrial sector growth rate lower than the overall economic growth rate. Therefore, it is necessary to encourage the development of the industrial sector to achieve sustainable development. The scenario for industrial development policy is determined based on an evaluation of the country's economic position in relation to current business cycle conditions. The evaluation is carried out through output gap analysis, which refers to the gap between actual and potential output. The research aim is to analyze output potential estimates and gaps in the Indonesian non-oil and gas processing industry sector. The methodology used in this research includes the HP Filter (Hodrick-Prescott), BP Filter (Band-Pass), and the Production Function Approach. The findings show that Indonesia's non-oil and gas processing industry experienced a slight decline below its potential between 2020 and 2021. Therefore, policymakers must consider this; in the short term, inflationary pressures are caused by a positive output gap, so the government needs to prioritize efforts to control inflation. Meanwhile, medium-term structural reforms must continue to increase potential output, including increasing labor force participation, sustainable investment for capital factors, and improving the quality of human resources and technological expertise for productivity factors. In particular, it is necessary to pay attention to the adoption of new emerging technologies.

Assessing the Contributions of Rwanda Gender Equality Policies to the Women Empowerment in Rwanda

This study was conducted in Rwanda with the main purpose of examining the contributions of Rwanda’s gender equality policies to women’s empowerment. This research solely employed secondary data to analyse the effects of gender equality policies on the empowerment of women in Rwanda. To gather information, many books, journals, newspapers, and other research publications on gender and women’s empowerment were examined. This study discovered a significant link between gender equality and women’s empowerment in the study area. Gender equality policies, for example, increased the number of women who went to school, increased labour force participation, reduced maternal health risks, raised the national GDP, and promoted human rights. Furthermore, to attain gender equality and increase women’s empowerment, the government has adopted numerous policies that have played a significant role in achieving gender equality. Among these initiatives are the formation of the Gender Monitoring Office, the Ministry of Gender and Family Promotion, the National Women’s Council, and a council for women who are in parliament. Furthermore, the government has implemented various legal instruments to promote gender equality and women’s empowerment. They are associated with inheritance, employment, human resources development, human rights, and other spheres of society. Yet, the women in Rwanda have some encounters for full participation in development as well as achieving gender equality, like society norms about gender equality and family violence. For those challenges, the authors would like to recommend that the government increase the mobilisation of citizens about the contribution of women’s empowerment and gender equality to sustainable growth, increase the budget for girls’ education, and enact new laws for gender-based violence and women’s empowerment promotion.

THE LANDSCAPE AND OUTLOOK FOR CONTINUED WORK LATER IN LIFE IN THE 2020S

Abstract For the first time in more than three decades, older workers’ labor force participation rates are no longer increasing. Even more remarkable is that this trend contrasts with changes among younger workers, who have experienced increases in labor force participation in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic. A narrative that has existed for more than two decades—that older workers have been the exception to reductions in labor force participation generally—may be coming to an end. A question then is, in the 2020s, will older workers who exited the labor force during the pandemic return? This symposium explores the new landscape that older workers face. The first paper addresses work-related trade-offs and the extent to which older workers assess the benefits and costs of continued work later in life. The second paper explores how pension eligibility triggers a new stage of the life course, in which older workers can leverage their newfound financial gains to improve work conditions or, alternatively, to exit the labor force. The third paper explores, specifically, how the Covid pandemic changed the workplace for older workers. The fourth paper rounds out the symposium by exploring the relationship between income and health in recent years in both the United States and in China. The flexibility of the U.S. labor force enables fairly abrupt shifts in workforce dynamics in response to macroeconomic changes and other events. The Covid-19 pandemic was one such shift. This symposium provides insight into the post-pandemic labor market for older workers. This is an Economics of Aging Interest Group Sponsored Symposium.

The Impact of the Transitions and Maintenance Patterns of Physical Activity and Tobacco Smoking on Labor Market Outcomes in South Africa

(1) Background: Labor market outcomes can be directly or indirectly influenced by the health behavior patterns of the labor force. This study assesses the association between patterns of physical activity and smoking behavior maintenance (and their transitions) and the labor market outcomes of employment participation and formal employment participation. (2) Methods: The sample evaluated in this study comprises adult individuals aged 18 and above from wave 5 of the National Income Dynamics Study (NIDS) survey. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, a chi-square test, and bivariate probit regression techniques. (3) Results: The bivariate probit regression results regarding the impact of health behavior transition and maintenance patterns on labor market outcomes show that transitioning to physically active behavior or maintaining physically active behavior increases the likelihood of participating in the labor market and being employed in the formal sector compared to those ceasing to be physically active over time. Surprisingly, both the maintenance and uptake of smoking behavior increases the probability of the occurrence of both labor market outcome variables. (4) Conclusions: These findings have both explicit and implicit implications that can serve to increase labor force participation probability and to promote healthy behavior. There is a need for community-wide campaigns via promotions and media coverage to promote active physical activity among the labor force group. Also, interventions to support individuals who lack extensive social networks is necessary. The results further highlight the importance of education, rural economic development, and good health status for desirable labor market outcomes.

Do industrialization, trade openness, and labor force participation enhance Africa’s productive capacity?

ABSTRACTWe investigated the effects of industrialization, trade openness, and labor force participation on Africa’s productive capacity. We also examined how industrialization moderates the link between trade openness, labor force participation, and productive capacity. We adopted the pooled OLS, the dynamic system GMM, and the bias-corrected least squares dummy variable (LSDV) estimators for 49 African economies between 2000 and 2018. Our findings indicate that industrialization, trade openness, and labor force participation are significantly enhancing Africa’s productive capacity. Notably, industrialization significantly moderates the positive effects of trade openness and labor force participation on productive capacity in Africa. Our results also indicate that human capital development, foreign direct investment inflow, and institutional quality are significant drivers of productive capacity, while infrastructural development and natural resource endowment have predominantly negative impacts. The policy implications of these findings include the creation of an enabling environment that promotes industrialization, international trade, and increased labor force participation.

EFFECT OF FORMAL EDUCATION ON POVERTY REDUCTION IN NIGERIA

This study analyzes the impact of formal education on poverty reduction in Nigeria by studying the relationship between government expenditure on education, school enrolment, and labour force participation. It uses 30 years of annual time series data and employs various statistical methods, such as OLS regression, ADF test, Philip Peron unit root test, F-tests, and t-tests. Labour force participation serves as a proxy to understand how these macroeconomic variables affect poverty. The findings reveal that both school enrolment and government expenditure on education significantly affect labour force participation. Specifically, enrolment in secondary and tertiary education positively correlates with increased labour force participation. To enhance poverty reduction in Nigeria, the study proposes improving the effectiveness of government expenditure, enhancing access to quality secondary and tertiary education, fostering collaboration between education and businesses, and emphasizing vocational and technical education aligned with the labour market’s needs.

Causal Nexus Analysis of FDI, Trade Openness, Labor Force, Financial Development, and Economic Growth in Laos: An Empirical Study (2000-2018)

This research study explores the intricate web of causal relationships among foreign direct investment (FDI), trade openness, labor force participation, financial development, and economic growth in Laos. The analysis employs time series data spanning the period from 2000 to 2018, utilizing the advanced technique of bounds testing through the Auto Regressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) co-integration approach. Before delving into the econometric framework, it is imperative to ascertain the stationarity of the entire dataset to prevent the occurrence of spurious regression issues. To achieve this, we conducted the Augmented Dickey-Fuller (ADF) unit root test. The results of the unit root test indicate that the variables under consideration exhibit stationarity at both the level and first difference, providing a strong foundation for the subsequent ARDL modeling. The study's findings shed light on the intricate relationships between labor force participation, FDI, financial development, and economic growth. Notably, the research highlights a positive correlation among these variables, suggesting that an increase in labor force participation, FDI inflows, and financial development serves as a catalyst for heightened economic growth in Laos. However, an intriguing aspect of our findings is the negative impact of trade openness on economic growth, both in the short-run and long-run, a phenomenon warranting further investigation. This study contributes valuable insights to the understanding of Laos's economic dynamics and offers important implications for policymakers and stakeholders seeking to foster sustainable economic growth in the region.

Persistent Agricultural Shocks and Child Poverty

This study shows how persistent agricultural shocks in Ethiopia affect education, health and labor outcomes through a time-use study of young people aged 5-22. Leveraging five rounds of the Young Lives Study from 2002-2016, we use dynamic panel instrumental variable regressions to account for the unobserved heterogeneity and serial correlation in the estimation. Agricultural shocks significantly reduce schooling participation and time spent in schooling, deteriorate health, and increase both labor force participation and labor time. Household wealth acts as a buffer and mitigates the adverse effects of shocks on schooling. Interestingly, children from wealthier households have a higher likelihood of joining agricultural labor during shocks, but their intensity of child labor is significantly lower compared to poorer households.

Adolescent girls’ agency and their labour force participation: experimental evidence from rural Bangladesh

ABSTRACT In many South Asian countries, recent improvement in girls’ education has not been reflected in increased labour force participation. We hypothesise girls’ agency as a necessary condition to enhance their labour force participation. Data from an experimental setting is utilised to examine whether addressing gender-awareness skills is effective in encouraging girls’ paid-work participation in Bangladesh as compared with strengthening knowledge learned in school or livelihood skills obtained in vocational training. We found strong evidence that addressing gender awareness encourages girls’ paid-work participation while tutoring support or livelihood skills training does not. In the context of a strong patriarchal society, gender-awareness skill may be the key to enhancing girls’ labour force participation. The current study includes an important policy implication suggesting that enhancing education and providing technical skills training may not translate to enhanced productivity in the labour market in the absence of agency to utilise them.

Does The Scheme “Free Bus Policy for Women in Public Transportation” Contributes to The Achievement of The Sustainable Development Goals?

Tamilnadu, one of the states in India is performing better in achieving Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by implementing various schemes and programmes. One such scheme “Free bus travel for women in public transportation”, was launched in June 2021 in an effort to reduce the cost of travel and enhance women’s work participation rates. Women's mobility is essential for increased labour force participation, higher wages and salaries. The aim of this scheme is to help women, especially those who earn a living on a daily basis, become economically independent and free from poverty. Therefore, this study was conducted to analyse the impact of the scheme with the various relevant SDGs. It is a descriptive paper that highlights the policy’s various benefits on women, whether it contributes to the achievement of various sustainable development goals such as Goal 1.4 (access to basic services), Goal 4.3 (Equal access to tertiary education), Goal 5.2 (elimination of violence against women in public and private sphere), Goal 8.5 (decent work) & Goal 11.2 (safe public transportation) using both quantitative survey and qualitative interviews which was carried out among 150 women commuters in Sivagangai District. The scheme was shown to have a good effect on women by assisting them in meeting their practical needs, such as gaining access to markets and schools, and by assisting them in strategically empowering themselves by providing access to social and economic possibilities.

The effect of trade liberalization on SMEs performance in Nigeria

Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are vital for achieving sustainable development. However, it remains unclear whether engagement in international trade-oriented policies improves SMEs operations, particularly in Africa, where concluded arrangements are made to partake in the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA). This study examined the role of trade liberalization on SMEs performance in Nigeria using the Central Bank of Nigeria’s statistical bulletin and the World Development Indicators from 1981 to 2019. The ARDL model showed that a 1% rise in trade openness improves SMEs performance by approximately 2% but only in the short run. For the control variables, a 1% increase in labor force participation reduced SMEs performance by about 6% in the short run and increased it by approximately 9% in the long run. The results also showed that a 1% rise in gross fixed capital formation in the short run reduced SMEs performance by approximately 5%. The results showed an inconclusive short-run effect of the exchange rate and taxes on SMEs performance. With a 1% increase in the exchange rate, SMEs performance improved by approximately 0.04% in the long run. Similarly, a 1% increase in taxes improves SMEs performance by approximately 2.90% in the long run. Findings suggest a positive effect of trade liberalization on SMEs performance and support the operation of AfCFTA in achieving sustainable development. Policy efforts should focus on productive investment strategies and using locally sourced inputs to raise the competitiveness of SMEs.

Self-driven women: gendered mobility, employment, and the lift of the driving ban in Saudi Arabia

A key feature of current economic policies in Saudi Arabia is the inclusion of women in the labor market. The lift of the ban on women driving was expected to have a positive impact on this goal. Using longitudinal interviews with Saudi university students (both men and women), we find that the ban on women driving configured individual mobility as family mobility, which affected women’s options and men’s obligations. Secondly, we find that mobility constraints, moderated by socioeconomic status, continue to restrict women´s mobility even after the lift of the ban, reinforced by societal and family opposition. Finally, we show that the mobility constraints that Saudi women face affect their labor market preferences, opportunities, choices, and outcomes. While remaining conservative social attitudes continue to restrict women’s mobility, women’s increased labor force participation erodes those attitudes, creating a reinforcing mechanism in which increased mobility and labor market access strengthen each other.

Modern Marriage in a Traditional Society: The Influence of College Education on Marriage in India

India has witnessed a dramatic expansion of higher education, and women have emerged as noteworthy winners in the process. This paper focuses on the role of female college education on four dimensions of marriage: age at marriage, autonomy in the choice of spouse, work and financial empowerment, and quality of marital relationship. The study uses a sample of 35,561 currently married women from the 2011-2012 wave of the nationally representative India Human Development Survey (IHDS). It demonstrates that higher education, particularly college education, enables women to lead lives substantively different from their less-educated peers. College-educated women marry at later ages, enjoy greater autonomy in choosing their husbands, and have a more egalitarian relationship with their spouses. Furthermore, the study finds that educational homogamy and hypogamy afford greater autonomy to women. Even without a concomitant increase in labor force participation, college education among women appears to have a transformative effect on marriage in India.