Labor Participation Decisions Research Articles

Do remittances affect labour participation decisions and hours worked? Evidence from Ethiopia

Do remittances affect labour participation decisions and hours worked? Evidence from Ethiopia

Off-farm income and direct payments—an indispensable diversification strategy of Swiss farmers

Abstract Following the theory of a farm household model, the relations between farm and farmer characteristics, including two different kinds of direct payments, and their effects on the off-farm labour allocation decisions of farm operators were analysed. Swiss farm accountancy data network (FADN) data of the years 2017, 2018, and 2019 for the whole sample and two different income groups were used to model both off-farm labour participation and supply decisions. The results show that diversification into off-farm employment is a highly relevant strategy of Swiss farmers and that direct payments are a complementary income source. Above a certain level, biodiversity payments show a substitution effect, meaning that off-farm participation is reduced. Off-farm labour supply is related not to direct payments but to production type and technology, with dairy and organic farmers having spent fewer days engaging in off-farm employment. Education positively correlates to off-farm labour participation. Even though off-farm income and direct payments are an indispensable income source for Swiss farmers, income-related policy goals cannot be considered achieved in terms of either farm or household income. Whether public money would be better spent on education than on unprofitable farm businesses should be analysed in future studies.

Retired Seniors’ Willingness, Behavior, and Influencing Factors of Labor Supply and also on the Importance of Reducing Smoking

Active aging is not only an effective strategy to deal with population aging but also an important method to increase the effective labor supply. The health, education and age of the retired are obviously affect labor supply. Using a typical sample survey, this paper analyzes the willingness and behavior of retired seniors to supply labor, via a labor participation model and a labor supply model. It verifies the direct effects of various factors of active aging on the labor participation decision and the level of labor supply of retired seniors. The results show that age, pension, health, and other income are the main factors that affect the labor participation decision of retired seniors while education level, health, pension, other income, the number of family members in need of care, and the interaction term of health and age are the main factors that affect the level of labor participation of retired seniors. The government should build a policy to tap the labor supply potential of retired seniors, such as proposing legislations to reduce cigarette smoking thus enhancing health of retired people.

Determinants of Off-Farm Labour Participation and Time Allocation: Double-Hurdle Results in the Case of Fiji

This study analyses the determinants of off-farm labour participation decisions of the agricultural households in Fiji. The analysis of joint decision to participate and the amount of time allocated to work is undertaken by using the double-hurdle model based on the Household Income and Expenditure Survey 2008–2009. The results show that household head status, age, marital status, ethnicity and education influence off-farm participation decisions of the farm households. On the households’ time allocation decisions towards off-farm income-generating activities, the family size, remittances, income and several types of agricultural outputs influence the labour supply decisions. These households and farm characteristics are important in creating better returns, reducing risks from land constraints and natural disasters, managing income and consumption uncertainties and providing quality farm inputs. The results highlight some important policy implications that would help address low agricultural productivity and render increased support for off-farm income earning activities.

Family labor participation and child care decisions: the role of grannies

Grandparents, and in particular grandmothers, are an important source of informal child care for their grandchildren in most developed countries. The literature shows how these informal transfers of care can help promote female labor participation. However, less is known about how working-age grandmothers are combining care with their own labor participation. In this paper, I use data from the Survey of Health, Aging and Retirement in Europe and analyze to what extent child care is provided by grandmothers in ten European countries and how grandmothers are combining this task with paid work. I also revisit the question of whether the child care provided by grandmothers is encouraging the labor participation of their offspring. The empirical approach takes into account the simultaneity of labor market decisions and caregiving activities while controlling for grandmother’s unobserved heterogeneity on their willingness to provide care to their grandchildren. I find a negative and significant effect of participating in the labor market on the probability of taking care of the grandchildren on a regular basis. I also find evidence that, for some countries, the child care provided by working-age grandmothers has a positive effect on the labor participation of their daughters.

Housing wealth and labor supply: Evidence from a regression discontinuity design

This paper uses the discontinuity in house size generated by Chinese housing policies to identify the effect of housing wealth on labor supply. The analysis finds a substantial deterrent effect of housing wealth on labor supply. Much of the housing wealth effect comes from the labor participation decision, with the effect on employed workers being ambiguous. Females, young generation and households with high repayment capacity are more responsive to gains in housing wealth.

Intra-Household Labour Allocation, Migration, and Remittances in Rural El Salvador

Migration can affect labour participation decisions back home, either by stimulating work to replace foregone labour, or reducing it through the role of remittances. Using evidence from a rural panel for El Salvador with a comprehensive module on agricultural income shocks, this study finds that migration and remittances generate only minor labour reallocation effects within households. Contradicting previous evidence based on cross section data, no impact is registered for off-farm labour supply. However, remittances and migration tend to increase female participation and hours worked in agricultural activities, and reduce time dedicated to off-farm and domestic activities. No major effects are found on self-employment.

Child Labor and Mother's Labor Market Participation: Evidence from Cambodia

This paper analyzes child labor participation decision and how it affects intra-household, especially mother’s, labor market participation through the mother-child relationship in the market work. Using Cambodia Socio-Economic Survey 2014, it shows that a higher probability of child labor increases the incidence of mother’s work. However, it also demonstrates that a mother is less likely to get involved in the market work if the eldest child is a son. This suggests the substitutability between a mother and her eldest son in market work, whereas the eldest daughter tends to do domestic work instead of her working mother.

Migration and labor supply in Georgia: an empirical study

This paper explores the impacts of migration on the labor supply decisions of left-behinds. Based on the data from the Georgian Household Survey and employing the instrumental variable Probit regression, this study establishes a causal link between migration and labor market outputs in Georgia. Another goal of the study is to ascertain whether or not the impact of migration on the labor market outcomes of left-behinds depends on the migrant’s relationship to a household head. The results of the study suggest that international migration is an important predictor of the labor participation choices and the employment status of left-behinds and that these effects are robust to the control of remittances. However, the impact of migration on the labor market participation/inactivity decisions of left-behind family members differs substantially by the household status of the migrant as well as the gender of left-behinds. For left-behind females, the effect of migration on their labor participation decisions is significant and has a negative sign. For males, having a migrant in a household increases the probability of their participation in the labor market only when the migrant is a child from a nuclear family.

Exposure to firewood: Consequences for health and labor force participation in Mexico

Indoor air pollution (IAP) originating from firewood used as cooking fuel relates to respiratory problems and can generate economic losses. IAP is associated with 1.6 million deaths worldwide annually. We assess the mechanisms behind the cooking fuel choice – in particular, firewood or LPG –, if the exposure to IAP due to firewood usage causes respiratory problems, and if this has implications for the probability to participate in the labor market. A small economic-theoretical model is proposed in which an individual maximizes utility generated by the fuel choice, consumption, health status, and the time dedicated to health and leisure, under financial and time constraints. For an empirical test, we use the 2002 Mexican Family Life Survey (MxFLS), estimating a trivariate recursive probit model. Our study finds that the usage of firewood as the household's fuel for cooking results in an increased prevalence of respiratory problems among women (but not among men), probably related to the traditional duties in the household. In the labor participation decision, we find a negative impact of respiratory problems on participation; hence, especially for women we find a strong causal channel from exposure to IAP to health problems to a reduction of labor force participation. A possible policy to break the circle of negative effects could involve the provision of improved firewood or LPG stoves that provoke less pollution and therefore reduces the health risks.

Rural-Urban Migration Decisions in China: Evidence from Rural Household Panel Data

This paper analyzes the household's off-farm labor response to risk using the Research Center on the Rural Economy (RCRE) panel data in China. This paper aims to find out whether the off-farm labor market, especially the migrant labor market, could be used as a means of coping with risk and shocks to income by poor households in rural China who have only limited access to the credit and insurance markets for managing risk. Instead of using the endogenous transitory income variance under the short time span of the data, we suggest using relatively exogenous measure of risk, such as the coefficient of variation of rainfall in each village, might be more appropriate to find the effect of risk on household's off-farm labor participation decision. Our results support the idea that households facing a riskier or more volatile distribution of precipitation are more likely to participate in the off-farm labor market. Attention to the potential risk-coping benefits from off-farm employment is timely for Chinese policy makers because both local and national policies accommodating the growth of markets for off-farm migrant labor have come under increasing pressure. As cities face growing problems of unemployed workers from state- owned enterprises, both local and national governments have taken measures to reduce competition for jobs between rural laborers and those urban residents left unemployed during the state-owned enterprises reform period. This paper suggests that rural resident would suffer from urban policies restricting the in-flow of migrants in two ways. Households sending temporary migrants to cities will suffer both a loss of income, and a loss of means of coping with risk. In fact, the analysis of this paper suggests that the welfare of Chinese farm households in rural areas can be further improved by eliminating the remaining institutional obstacles to expansion of migrant employment opportunities.

Are labor supply decisions consistent with neoclassical preferences? Evidence from Indian boat owners

This paper studies the labor supply of South Indian boat owners using daily labor participation decisions of 247 boat owners during seven years. We test the standard neoclassical model of labor supply and find that boat owners’ labor participation depends positively on expected earnings but also on recent accumulated earnings, albeit weakly. Participation elasticities with respect to expected earnings range between 0.8 and 1.3 and about −0.05 and −0.01 with respect to changes in recent income. While recent earnings affecting participation is at odds with the standard neoclassical model, the magnitude of the effect is small, suggesting that the neoclassical model is a good approximation of the labor supply behavior of boat owners in southern India.

The Role of Off‐Farm Labor Participation Decisions of Married Farm Couples on Farm Direct Marketing in Taiwan

Direct marketing from farm producers to consumers has been seen as a viable business option to increase farm income. This study investigates the factors that determine a farm's direct marketing decisions; special attention is paid to understanding the correlation between farm couples' off‐farm labor participation and the farm's adoption of direct marketing strategies. A nationally representative dataset of 3,670 married family farm couples in Taiwan is used as an illustration. A multiple choice treatment effect model is estimated to cope with endogeneity bias. The results indicate a significant association between farm couples' off‐farm labor decisions and the farm's adoption of direct marketing strategies. Moreover, gender difference is evident: farm husband's (wife's) off‐farm work is positively (negatively) associated with the farm's direct marketing decision.

Are Labor Supply Decisions Consistent with Neoclassical Preferences? Evidence from Indian Boat Owners

This paper studies the labor supply of South Indian boat owners using daily labor participation decisions of 249 boat owners during seven years. It tests the standard neoclassical model of labor supply, which predicts that (i) individuals should be more likely to work when earnings are temporarily high and (ii) recent accumulated earnings should play no role in the participation decision. It finds that boat owners'labor participation depends positively on expected earnings but also on recent accumulated earnings, albeit weakly. Participation elasticities with respect to expected earnings range between 0.8 and 1.3 and about -0.05 and -0.01 with respect to changes in recent income. While the standard neoclassical model is statistically rejected, it is still a good approximation of the labor supply behavior of boat owners in southern India.

La Tasa De Actividad En Espaaa: Resistencia CCclica, Determinantes Y Perspectivas Futuras The Spanish Participation Rate: Cyclical Resilience, Fundamentals and Future Projections

The cyclical resilience of the labour force has been one of the most notable features of the Spanish labour market during the latest economic crisis, despite the depth and duration of the recession, and in contrast to its performance in previous recessionary periods. The behaviour of labour supply has been driven by the favourable trend of the aggregate participation rate. Thus, this paper firstly analyses the cyclical performance of the participation rate over time using data from the Labour Force Survey for different demographic groups (by sex, nationality, age and educational attainment). The analysis reveals that the lower cyclical sensitivity during the latest downturn was driven by the stronger relative performance of labour force participation by Spanish women, highly educated workers and middle-aged and older people.In the second part of the paper, we estimate an empirical relationship between the participation rate, broken down into sex and nationality, and some of its main determinants identified in the literature. The ensuing estimation results will serve as a basis for conducting a projection exercise for the aggregate participation rate over a 10-year horizon. Overall, our results show that factors such as educational attainment, the fertility rate, the minimum wage, the pension system or the unemployment insurance system all prove relevant for labour participation decisions by individuals. The future course of these variables can help mitigate the negative impact on the labour supply arising from the expected population ageing in Spain.

The Part-Time Premium Enigma: An Assessment of the Chilean Case

(ProQuest: ... denotes formulae omitted.)Working part-time has been seen by some researchers, public policy advisers, and politicians as a way for women to find a balance between home and paid work (Gregory and Connolly 2008; Bardasi and Gornick 2008). However, there is no agreement on the optimal balance. Indeed, there are contrasting views on the subject. Those in favor suggest that in the absence of part-time jobs, female labor-force participation would be substantially lower (Sundstrom 1991; Dekker 2008). According to this belief, women, confronted with the choice between working full-time and not working at all, would opt for the latter. On the other hand, detractors in European countries assert that part-time jobs imply a waste of resources and of investments in human capital, since the many part-time working women who are highly educated generally make a downward occupational move when they switch from full-time to part-time work (Gregory and Connolly 2008; Manning and Petrongolo 2008).Furthermore, part-time jobs have adverse repercussions for the economic well-being of part-time working women, given that public social-welfare benefits, wage increases, and professional development might be scarce for these women (Leiva 2000; Warren 2008; Fernandez-Kranz and others 2011; Fernandez-Kranz and Rodriguez-Planas 2011). In addition, in mem- ber countries of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Develop- ment (OECD), hourly earnings are lower (Manning and Petrongolo 2008) and employer-provided training less common (Gregory and Connolly 2008; Connolly and Gregory 2009) in part-time jobs than in full-time jobs. Further- more, in those countries, though the hourly earnings gap between women and men in full-time work has been narrowing, the same is not the case for female part-time workers and males in full-time jobs (Manning and Petrongolo 2008). Part-time work among women after the birth of their first child is currently responsible for some of the pay gap between men and women (Kanji 2011).Chile's rate of female labor-force participation is one of the lowest in Latin American countries (CEPAL/UN-ECLAC 2011), despite female educational attainment that is similar to or higher than that of other Latin American countries (Carrillo, Gandelman, and Robano 2013). To increase female labor-force partici- pation, the Chilean government is promoting part-time (and home-based) work for women. Although part-time work is not as extensive as in other countries, the proportion of Chilean women working part-time has tripled in the past ten years, and part-time workers now represent more than 20 percent of the female work- force (National Socio-Economic Characterization Survey (Casen), 2009).Contreras, Puentes, and Bravo (2005) show that in Chile, the female labor- force participation rate is positively correlated with education. It is not appar- ent why female labor-force participation is so low. Discrimination in the labor market or, more generally, the existent gender wage gap favorable to males (Nopo 2012; Carrillo, Gandelman, and Robano 2013) might partially explain the low female participation rate, as might cultural factors. Contreras and Plaza (2010) find that women who have internalized machista values are less likely to participate in the labor market. Despite concerns of endogeneity owing to data limitations, Contreras and Plaza (2010) find a negative rela- tionship between female labor-force participation and conservative values. Puentes and Ruiz-Tagle (2011), using the Voz de Mujer survey, analyze the same phenomenon while controlling for possible endogenous relationships.1 They find that cultural factors are not endogenously determined by a woman's labor-participation decision; on the contrary, it seems that whether women work has little effect on cultural factors in the short term. According to their study, values develop in early childhood rather than during a woman's work- ing life.Interestingly, the same 2002 survey that Contreras and Plaza (2010) used was reapplied by the Centro de Estudios Publicos and released in April 2012. …

The Part-Time Premium Enigma: An Assessment of the Chilean Case

The Part-Time Premium Enigma:An Assessment of the Chilean Case Andrea Bentancor (bio) and Virginia Robano (bio) Working part-time has been seen by some researchers, public policy advisers, and politicians as a way for women to find a balance between home and paid work (Gregory and Connolly 2008; Bardasi and Gornick 2008). However, there is no agreement on the optimal balance. Indeed, there are contrasting views on the subject. Those in favor suggest that in the absence of part-time jobs, female labor-force participation would be substantially lower (Sundström 1991; Dekker 2008). According to this belief, women, confronted with the choice between working full-time and not working at all, would opt for the latter. On the other hand, detractors in European countries assert that part-time jobs imply a waste of resources and of investments in human capital, since the many part-time working women who are highly educated generally make a downward occupational move when they switch from full-time to part-time work (Gregory and Connolly 2008; Manning and Petrongolo 2008). [End Page 29] Furthermore, part-time jobs have adverse repercussions for the economic well-being of part-time working women, given that public social-welfare benefits, wage increases, and professional development might be scarce for these women (Leiva 2000; Warren 2008; Fernández-Kranz and others 2011; Fernández-Kranz and Rodríguez-Planas 2011). In addition, in member countries of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), hourly earnings are lower (Manning and Petrongolo 2008) and employer-provided training less common (Gregory and Connolly 2008; Connolly and Gregory 2009) in part-time jobs than in full-time jobs. Furthermore, in those countries, though the hourly earnings gap between women and men in full-time work has been narrowing, the same is not the case for female part-time workers and males in full-time jobs (Manning and Petrongolo 2008). Part-time work among women after the birth of their first child is currently responsible for some of the pay gap between men and women (Kanji 2011). Chile’s rate of female labor-force participation is one of the lowest in Latin American countries (CEPAL/UN-ECLAC 2011), despite female educational attainment that is similar to or higher than that of other Latin American countries (Carrillo, Gandelman, and Robano 2013). To increase female labor-force participation, the Chilean government is promoting part-time (and home-based) work for women. Although part-time work is not as extensive as in other countries, the proportion of Chilean women working part-time has tripled in the past ten years, and part-time workers now represent more than 20 percent of the female workforce (National Socio-Economic Characterization Survey (Casen), 2009). Contreras, Puentes, and Bravo (2005) show that in Chile, the female laborforce participation rate is positively correlated with education. It is not apparent why female labor-force participation is so low. Discrimination in the labor market or, more generally, the existent gender wage gap favorable to males (Ñopo 2012; Carrillo, Gandelman, and Robano 2013) might partially explain the low female participation rate, as might cultural factors. Contreras and Plaza (2010) find that women who have internalized machista values are less likely to participate in the labor market. Despite concerns of endogeneity owing to data limitations, Contreras and Plaza (2010) find a negative relationship between female labor-force participation and conservative values. Puentes and Ruiz-Tagle (2011), using the Voz de Mujer survey, analyze the same phenomenon while controlling for possible endogenous relationships.1 [End Page 30] They find that cultural factors are not endogenously determined by a woman’s labor-participation decision; on the contrary, it seems that whether women work has little effect on cultural factors in the short term. According to their study, values develop in early childhood rather than during a woman’s working life. Interestingly, the same 2002 survey that Contreras and Plaza (2010) used was reapplied by the Centro de Estudios Públicos and released in April 2012.2 In both 2002 and 2012, 48 percent of interviewees stated that the most desirable choice for a woman with one child of preschool age was to work parttime, while her...

Does Wealth Influence Women’s Labor Participation Decision?: Evidence from Egypt

This study examines the behavior of labor supply of women at different levels of household wealth status. It is widely demonstrated in the literature that variables such as age and level of education, as well as the demographic, social, and financial characteristics of the household influence deciding to join the labor market. However, this study argues that these determinants work differently according to the level or the well-being of the household, adding another to the literature on women’s labor supply in MENA.There have been few studies on women’s labor supply in the MENA region. Some have focused on labor supply and its elasticities in Egypt and Turkey [El-Hamidi (2003), and Tunali and Baslevent (2000)]. Others have focused on the fertility and timing of marriage in Morocco [Assaad and Zouari (2003)]. Household wealth is yet to be considered in the labor supply analysis.Only recently a couple of studies have handled the role of poverty in labor supply. Eberharter (2001) shows a difference between the gender role in the labor market between those above and below the poverty line in Germany. Dessing (2002) points to different labor supply elasticities for different wage rates in the Philippines.I start with the assumption that social and traditional gender roles, as well as economic factors, govern women’s participation decision in the labor market. This assumption is sustained only when household income/wealth is above a specific threshold. When household income falls below some threshold, only economic factors matter in the decision to join the labor market. Ultimately, economic hardships are likely to press women to work more hours. In this paper, there is evidence that responsiveness of hours of work, resulting from a change in wages, vary according to wealth level of the household. Several policy implications emerge from negative labor elasticity: the need to impose a minimum wage to avoid repeated cycles of poverty, as well as providing specialized training and education programs.

Family Labor Participation and Child Care Decisions: The Role of Grannies

One of the most significant long term trends in the labor market in most OECD countries has been the increase in the proportion of working mothers. However, not all countries show the same pattern. Countries in Southern Europe (Italy, Greece and Spain) show an average participation rate of about 45% whereas the participation rates in Northern countries (Denmark, Sweden) are around 75%. The characteristics of child care systems also differ significantly across OECD countries. This along with the characteristics of the labor market may have led families to get the necessary social services in an alternative way, i.e. through grandmothers. This paper analyzes how and to what extent child care is provided by grandmothers and how this task is combined with paid work in 10 European countries. Moreover, it studies whether the child care provided by grandmothers is encouraging the labor participation of their sons and, especially, their daughters. For this aim, it uses a sample drawn from the Survey of Health, Aging and Retirement in Europe (SHARE) which provides detailed information about grandmothers (the units of observation) as well as their offspring with children. The econometric model considered takes into account the simultaneity of labor market decisions and care-giving activities, while controlling for unobserved heterogeneity in care-giving decisions. Here it exploits the fact that, information about multiple offsprings with children is usually available for each grandmother. It finds a negative and very significant effect of participating in the labor market on the probability of taking care of the grandchildren on a regular basis. It also finds evidence that, for some countries, the child care provided by grandmothers has a positive effect on the labor participation of their daughters.

Tassazione e offerta di lavoro: gli effetti delle modifiche IRPEF introdotte nel periodo 1998-2002

Income Taxation and Labour Supply in Italy: The Effects of the Reforms Enacted in the Period 1998-2002 - This paper discusses the labour supply effects of the income tax provisions enacted in Italy in the period 1998-2002. Indeed, these represent an interesting case-study to evaluate how responsive labour supply and participation decisions are to tax reforms in Italy. I use a behavioural microsimulation model that allows for simultaneous labor supply decisions by household members, endogenous choice between dependent employment and selfemployment, complete representation of the tax-benefit system before and after the reforms. Results show that both hours of work and the probability to participate in the labour market are more responsive for females than males, for whom actually average hours remain unchanged after the reforms. Work incentives tend to be grater for married women living in low-income households.