Lower Labor Force Participation Rates Research Articles

A profile of American Indians and Alaska Natives in the U.S. labor force

In this article, I examine the labor force characteristics of American Indians and Alaska Natives (AIANs) during the 2019–21 period by using data from the Current Population Survey (CPS). AIANs typically have a younger age profile, a higher unemployment rate, and a lower labor force participation rate than the overall U.S. population. In addition, the unemployment rate is higher for AIANs who live in an AIAN area—a federal or state American Indian reservation or off-reservation trust land, tribal statistical area, or Alaska Native village statistical area—than for AIANs who live elsewhere.

Do Work Barriers for Justice-Impacted Individuals Incentivize Criminal Behavior?

This study explores the legal barriers created by state governments for justice-impacted individuals. The more work barriers the state creates for someone with a criminal record, the more attractive illegal activities become. We examine differences across states in the data set provided by the National Inventory of Collateral Consequences of Conviction. We compare incarceration rates, unemployment rates, and labor force participation rates to the number of rules that affect someone with a criminal background. Our results predict that states with more collateral consequences will have higher per-capita imprisonment, higher unemployment, and lower labor force participation rates.

Care Work and the Careers of Educated Women: Role of the Care Diamond in India

The data on women’s education and labour force participation in India suggests that though the gender gap in education (particularly higher education) has almost disappeared, the gender gap in employment remains significant. The paper links the burden of double responsibility (paid work plus unpaid ‘care work’) with the low labour force participation rates among the highly educated women in urban India. Based on primary and secondary sources, the paper analyses the lived experiences of women who had to either leave their careers or who continued by managing to balance the two sets of responsibilities. Interrogating the care diamond in India, the essay examines two recent provisions of the government of India for working mothers – an increase in Maternity Leave and the provision of Childcare Leave. It finds that though these provisions seem to be in the right direction as they bring recognition to the care burden of employees, given the prevailing social norms on gender roles, they are insufficient (in their present form) to bring gender parity in the labour market.

The relationship between female labor force participation and violent conflicts in South Asia

ABSTRACT This paper explores the link between the prevalence of violent conflicts and the extremely low female labor force participation rates observed in South Asian countries. The Labor Force Surveys from Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, India, and Pakistan are merged with the Global Terrorism Database to estimate the effect of terrorist attacks on female labor supply. We exploit the geographical variation in exposure to violence to compare administrative units exposed to events with those not exposed. We find that for each wounded and killed person, female labor force participation falls 0.000026 and 0.0001 percentage point, respectively, while male labor force participation remains unchanged, thus widening the gender labor participation gap. We test the non-linearity of various violence effects, finding that the deterring effect is higher in administrative units with higher baseline FLFP rates. We also provide suggestive evidence that terrorism has a negative effect on the intensive margin of female labor supply.

Missing Women in the Labour Force: Detrimental to India’s Growth

Since 2005, India has been witnessing a continuous downward trajectory in its already low female labour force participation rate (FLPR). In 2021, India’s FLPR declined even below the rates of our neighbouring countries - Pakistan and Bangladesh. Mechanization in agriculture, lack of job opportunities in semi-urban areas, regressive socio-cultural factors, lack of frequent transportation, and lack of affordable child care are some of the reasons for such a low and declining FLPR. Increasing FLPR has both social as well as economic benefits. Higher participation of women can improve the nation’s aggregate economic productivity by ensuring optimum utilization of human talent and ensuring diversity in the workplace. High FLPR can also help in improving development indicators like child nutrition, and women empowerment.

Gender Differences in Wage Negotiations: An Ultimatum Game Experiment

The gender gap in wages that is accepted as a major economic and social issue, can arise from the behaviours of individuals. The fact that the labor force participation rate of women in Turkey is quite low compared to other OECD countries is also an important problem. Women really may accept lower wages in negotiations. However, perceptions that women may accept lower offers may affect offers made by employers. This attitude of employers may cause a gender gap in wages and a low female labor force participation rate. We explore the behavioural gender differences during bargaining by using the ultimatum game. Altruism, risk aversion, generosity, and self-confidence have a significant impact on preferences and so the results of wage bargaining. The ultimatum game is an effective tool for understanding altruism, risk aversion, and generosity. We found two important results in this study. First; when the proposer knows the gender of the other party, his/her offers to women are lower than those to men. Latter; When the gender of the other party is known, female proposers bid higher than men. These results provide evidence that gender income inequality in the labor market may be due to the attitudes of employers (especially men employers). These results can actually explain why the female labor force participation rate is low in Turkey, but more detailed studies are needed on this subject. This study contributes to the literature as one of the few studies examining the wage bargaining of employers with male and female workers in Turkey.

Correlation between the Number of MSMEs and the Growth of the Workforce with the Regression Analysis Model

Unemployment at a young age is influenced by the Labor Force Participation Rate ( TPAK ). In addition, the Labor Force Participation Rate is also very influential on the economy in Indonesia. The thing that affects this TPAK is the ability of the region to create or produce jobs. Expansion of employment opportunities is also expected from the government to overcome this low Labor Force Participation Rate. Expansion of employment opportunities can be done by creating/developing programs that can support the hard skills and soft skills of the work force. The government can provide certified skills training that is recognized by companies. The government should encourage more young entrepreneurs to establish MSMEs (Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises) so that new job opportunities are also more open. The Covid-19 pandemic has made MSMEs play an important role in Indonesia's GDP with a contribution that reaches 61% and is able to absorb 97% of the workforce from the total absorption of the national workforce. Specifically for the City of Padang, based on the results of simple linear regression analysis, it was found that there is a strong relationship between the variable number of labor force and the number of MSMEs in Padang City where the conclusion of the regression statistics for multiple R is 0.82 which indicates that the independent variable (number of labor force) has a strong relationship with the dependent variable (number of SMEs). Based on the results of this simple linear regression test, it was found that R Square was worth 0.67. This shows that the resulting regression equation can be said to represent the existing conditions where y = 334333.21 - (0.67 * number of labor force). This can be seen from the R square value which is greater than 0.5 and close to 1

Blocked by Gender: Disparities in COVID19 infection detection in Tamil Nadu, India.

Globally, a gender gap in COVID-19 has been noted with men reporting higher share of both morbidity and deaths compared to women. While the gender gap in fatalities has been similar across the globe, there have been interesting disparities in the detection of COVID-19 cases in men and women. While wealthier, more developed nations have generally seen similar case detection in men and women, LMICs especially in Asia have seen far greater proportion of COVID-19 cases among men than women. We utilize age and sex-disaggregated data from the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu across two waves of the pandemic (May 2020 – Nov 2020, and March 2021, to June 2021) and find that there were only ~70% as many detected COVID-19 cases among women as there were among men. Our initial reading suggested that this might be a protective effect of lower labor force participation rates among women across much of South Asia. However, subsequent sero-prevalence results from Tamil Nadu conducted on October-November 2020, and June-July, 2021 suggest that infection incidence has been similar among men and women; as is the case in countries with better health infrastructure. This empirical puzzle suggests that reduced case detection among women cannot be immediately associated with limited public exposure, but rather evidence of a chronic neglect of women in healthcare access. Overall, we contend that an attention to the gender context holds promise to effective interventions in detection and prevention that goes beyond the traditional epidemiological logic of diseases.

Do Area-Level Environmental Factors Influence Employment for People with Disability? A Scoping Review.

Employment is an important social determinant of health and wellbeing. People with disability experience labour market disadvantage and have low labour force participation rates, high unemployment rates, and poor work conditions. Environmental factors are crucial as facilitators of or barriers to participation for people with disability. Understanding how the physical, social, and economic characteristics of local areas influence employment for people with disability can potentially inform interventions to reduce employment inequalities. We conducted a scoping review of research investigating associations between area-level environmental factors and employment for people with disability. Eighteen articles published between 2000 and 2020 met the inclusion criteria, and data were extracted to map the current evidence. Area-level factors were categorised into six domains relating to different aspects of environmental context: socioeconomic environment, services, physical environment, social environment, governance, and urbanicity. The urbanicity and socioeconomic environment domains were the most frequently represented (15 and 8 studies, respectively). The studies were heterogeneous in terms of methods and data sources, scale and type of geographic units used for analysis, disability study population, and examined employment outcomes. We conclude that the current evidence base is insufficient to inform the design of interventions. Priorities for future research are identified, which include further theorising the mechanisms by which area-level factors may influence employment outcomes, quantifying the contribution of specific factors, and interrogating specific factors underlying the association between urbanicity and employment outcomes for people with disability.

Substance Abuse during the Pandemic: Implications for Labor-Force Participation

The labor-force participation rates of prime-age U.S. workers dropped in March 2020-the start of the COVID-19 pandemic-and have still not fully recovered. At the same time, substance-abuse deaths were elevated during the pandemic relative to trend indicating an increase in the number of substance abusers, and abusers of opioids and crystal methamphetamine have lower labor-force participation rates than non-abusers.

A study of women's self help groups in Solapur district

Despite the multidimensional growth which India has achieved still, his concerns remain relevant even today. In India women constitute about half of India’s population of 1.2 billion, they are largely excluded from participating in economic activities and decision-making, as well as access to resources of health, nutrition, education, etc. This exclusion and discrimination is reflected in low female labour force participation rates, with India recording a meagre 22.3% in 2021 in comparison with 30.3% in 1990. In the context of increased importance being given to innovation, technology and self-sustenance, especially in a post-covid era, economically weaker sections have faced an acute loss of jobs and income. Even though women have the potential to contribute to household finances, they often do not have the agency to participate in decisions related to avenues of income generation, thus many a time pushing their families to the brink of poverty. In a country that is at the cusp of a rapid transformation in terms of evolving employment opportunities, urbanization and innovation, female participation in the economy remains crucial to where India stands globally. Even though working women account for approximately 432 million, about 343 million are not in paid formal job roles or work.

Minimum wage and employment: a gender perspective for Mauritius

PurposeThis paper aims to examine the employment effect of the minimum wage in Mauritius, a country that has recently introduced an economy-wide national minimum wage. As women have low labor force participation rate and higher unemployment rate compared to men, this study sheds light on the impact of the national minimum wage on male and female employment.Design/methodology/approachA conceptual framework based on the labor–leisure model of Blundell et al. (2007) incorporating the minimum wage as an important variable influencing the employment decision of the individual serves as the methodological backdrop of this paper. It applies the difference-in-difference estimation technique and uses micro data from the Continuous Multi-Purpose Household Survey for the period 2017–2019.FindingsThe results show that minimum wage has a significant negative impact on overall employment. With the imposition of the national minimum wage, the probability that an individual, currently earning less than the minimum wage, remains employed is 0.525 lower than that of a worker earning above the minimum wage level. Moreover, using sex-disaggregated data, the analysis demonstrates the negative employment effects of the minimum wage adversely impact women more than men.Originality/valueThis is a first attempt to estimate the effect of the newly introduced national minimum wage on employment in Mauritius. While the effects of a minimum wage vary across different segments of the economy, this study adopts a gender perspective by comparing the impact of the minimum wage on male and female employment.

Effects of VHA Policy Directive 1163 on Acceptance and Employment Rates for Veterans with Substance Use Disorders Referred to VHA Vocational Rehabilitation.

Research has shown that Veterans with Substance/Alcohol Use Disorders (SUDs/AUDs) are at a greater risk for employment-related issues (eg, lower labor force participation rates), and interventions such as Vocational Rehabilitation (VR) have been used as a tool to reduce employment obtainment and maintenance. The purpose of the current study was to evaluate acceptance rates and employment rates at closure for Veterans with SUDs/AUDs prior to the implementation of VHA Policy Directive 1163 (mandated that Veterans are not refused services based on prior or current SUD/AUDs). SUD/AUDs were coded to reflect DSM 5-TR criteria of active use and in-remission. Data from a VHA Vocational Rehabilitation program in the Veterans Integrated Service Network 12 network were obtained for the purpose of the current study. Findings showed that Veterans with AUDs were less likely to be accepted for VR services prior and after implementation of VHA Policy Directive 1163. When examining active and inactive SUDs/AUDs, findings showed that implementation of VHA Policy Directive 1163 was not effective for Veterans with AUDs. One factor that was not explored but could explain disparities in program acceptance rates is duration of program entry. If a Veteran has a consult placed for VHA Vocational Rehabilitation services, and their program entry date (date accepted) is a significant duration, then perhaps Veterans with active AUDs start drinking again given that they are waiting for vocational assistance. Thus, it would be important to assist Veterans with active AUDs into services in a timely manner (perhaps prior them being discharged from SUD treatment).

Long-term Effects of In Utero Exposure to “The Year without a Summer”

This paper uses the aftermath of the great Tambora eruption in 1815 as a natural experiment to explore the long-term effects of a nutritional shock during prenatal development. The volcanic explosion of Tambora formed substantial ash columns which hampered sunlight, cooled down the surface temperature, reduced the length of the growing season, and led to a severe harvest failure during summer and winter of 1816 in Europe and northeastern states of America. US decennial census 1850 provides evidence that cohorts in utero during the climate anomaly revealed lower literacy rates, lower labor force participation rates, a fewer number of own children, and a higher female-male ratio. The results are confirmed among the same cohorts in England, Canada, and Norway. The decennial census of each country indicates negative effects of exposure during prenatal development on labor market participation rates in adulthood.

Separating aggregate discouraged and added worker effects: the case of a former transition country

Research background: We analyse the added worker effect (AWE) and the discouraged worker effect (DWE) from an aggregate perspective. The first effect refers to an increase in labour force participation in response to a decrease in the wage rate. The second effect refers to the decision by workers who have been unsuccessful in their job search to leave the labour market or to decrease their labour force participation. For our analysis, we use the case of Poland, a country with a persistently low labour force participation rate.
 Purpose of the article: While previous studies focused on the net of the two effects, we aim to analyse the two effects both separately and simultaneously. We propose a new approach for analysing the two effects. We generalise and model them as resulting from different shocks: (i) the AWE as the result of a negative wage income shock, and (ii) the DWE as the result of a positive job search time shock. The underlying assumption is that both shocks have at least a transitory effect on the labour force participation rate. However, we also track the potential long-lasting effects of these shocks, and we analyse the reactions of gender and age groups to them. While this approach demonstrates the robustness of our results, it also provides the range of the sensitivity, as it shows that there are large differences in the magnitude of the AWE and the DWE for different labour market cohorts.
 Methods: We use the multivariate unobserved component model to extract the AWE and the DWE, and we then use VAR models, applying sign and exclusion restrictions to model the underlying shocks. We use quarterly data for Poland in 1995?2019. Most of these data come from the Labour Force Survey, while the rest come from Statistics Poland.
 Findings & value added: In contrast to previous literature, which analysed only the net effect of the two effects, we model the AWE and the DWE separately. Contrary to the findings of previous research, our approach seems to confirm that both effects are simultaneously present in the labour market, and both effects influence the labour force participation rate. Thus, we find that both effects are significant. Specifically, we show that the AWE is stronger, but transitory; while the DWE is weaker, but long-lasting.

Labor market in the UK in digital era: The gender dimension

The article considers gender discrimination in the field of labor relations in the United Kingdom (UK) in the pre-covid period. In the past decades, the Western European countries have made the most significant progress in achieving gender equality in various fields, including labor relations, and became the world leader in this area. However, despite all the efforts of the international community, no country has achieved a full gender equality, and Great Britain is no exception. The authors argue that the British anti-discrimination legislation (before leaving the European Union) was based on international acts and conventions. For a long time, there were acts and laws prohibiting discrimination in the labor market, which seriously hindered the implementation of an effective anti-discrimination policy in the sphere of labor relations. It was not until 2010 that the law on equality was passed to replace all previous laws and regulations and to provide an exhaustive list of criteria for prohibiting discrimination. As a result, Great Britain began to develop a rather strict national anti-discrimination legislation in the field of labor relations. Thus, in the past decades, the UK has been achieving gender equality in the economic sphere at a faster pace than the average European Union country. The study shows a steady decline in the gender wage gap in the UK over the past two decades, which may be considered one of the countrys most significant achievements in fighting gender discrimination in the labor market. However, there is still a number of serious challenges: a relatively low female labor force participation and employment rate, a gender wage gap and income gap, horizontal and vertical segregation, a gender gap in postgraduate education, and a significant gender gap in time spent on family responsibilities. Age discrimination presents a special problem in the sphere of labor relations in Great Britain. In the European Union, the first laws prohibiting age discrimination were adopted only in the 2000s, and in the UK - in 2006. This problem still remains extremely acute for the labor market, since age discrimination in the UK ranks third among the most common grounds for discrimination - after gender and disability.

Migration and intergenerational stability in female employment: The impact of differences between sending and receiving countries

Objective: This article studies the intergenerational stability of employment in families of immigrants cross-nationally by investigating to what extent contextual differences between sending and receiving countries affect the transmission of labour force participation from mothers to daughters.
 Background: It is often argued that a low level of labour force participation among female immigrants reflects gender norms inherited from the sending country, or, alternatively, that it is indicative of obstacles to social mobility in the receiving country. We seek to add to the existing research on this topic by providing evidence of differences between sending and receiving countries that systematically affect the labour market behaviour of female immigrants.
 Method: We use individual-level data from the European Social Survey (ESS) for 35 receiving countries for a 14-year period (2004-2018) in combination with contextual data for 172 sending countries from 1960 to 2018. First, we provide an overview of employment rates and intergenerational employment stability for different combinations of sending and receiving contexts with respect to the labour force participation rates of female immigrants. Second, we corroborate our descriptive findings with multilevel models.
 Results: Our paper shows that there are changes in the levels of intergenerational employment stability among immigrants depending on the differences in the female labour force participation rates between the sending and the receiving countries. We find that when women migrate from countries with low female labour force participation rates to countries with high female labour force participation rates, their probability of participating in the labour force increases. However, we also find that the levels of intergenerational employment stability in this group are high.
 Conclusion: Intergenerational employment stability seems to be responsive to contextual differences between sending and receiving countries. We observe the highest levels of intergenerational stability in employment between mothers and daughters in families who migrated from countries with low female labour force participation rates to countries with high female labour force participation rates.

Peningkatan Penguasaan Teknologi Penunjang Bisnis Pada Wanita Generasi Baby Boomers

There is a view that women, especially in Indonesia, have the main task, namely as housewives, this view continues to be entrenched and rooted in life in Indonesia, to this day many have such assumptions. This condition supports the low Labor Force Participation Rate (TPAK) for women, which is lower than men. Over time and increasing awareness of the role of women, social changes occur in society. The role of women in the family economy continues to increase, the role of women is seen in their participation in building the nation's economy through MSMEs. However, there are obstacles in the form of gaps in mastering technology, especially for women of the baby boomers generation. To improve the ability of baby boomers to maximize business-supporting digital technology, training and providing information related to digital technology and digital marketing is carried out. This activity was carried out smoothly, the owner who is a generation of baby boomers is expected to succeed in reducing the gap in the use of digital technology through this activity.

Where Have the Working Women Gone?: A Perspective on India’s Low Female Labour Force Participation Rate

Between 1994 to 2018, for most years, India experienced a steady increase in economic growth and improvement in social indicators. The female literacy rate increased while the fertility rate decreased. Paradoxically, the country's female labor force participation rate (LFPR) steadily declined while staying nearly constant for men during the same period. This paper attempts to answer the following question: Why are women in India leaving the workforce? To answer this, we first qualitatively assess the benefits of having a high female LFPR to society and the country. Then we examine the factors that influence female labor force participation and the reasons it has declined in India. We find that the female workforce faces structural, economic, and cultural barriers to find and keep jobs. Our main learnings are: First, weak demand for low-skilled and moderately educated women is responsible for this decline. Specifically, the increased use of capital-intensive methods in the agriculture and manufacturing sectors pushed low-skilled female workers out of the workforce. Second, we found that with India's economic success and consequent increase in household incomes, the patriarchs of the family did not feel the financial need to send women to work. Moreover, societal norms put the sole responsibility of domestic duties on women leaving little time to work outside the home. As this problem of gender inequality in the labor force problem requires an urgent multifaceted approach, we conclude with recommendations for the Indian government, policymakers, banking system, employers, and society.

OCCUPATIONAL STRUCTURE OF THE SCHEDULED CASTE WOMEN IN KERALA

Kerala, which ranks first among the Indian States in terms of Human Development Index (HDI) and Gender Development Index (GDI), presents, however, a poor picture in terms of female work participation. This is paradoxical since the development experience of the State is universally acclaimed as a model for poor States to follow for transforming the living conditions of their people, through enlightened policies of promotion of health care and education. But, the most tragic failure of development in the State is the acute unemployment and low labour force participation rates of both men and women. Reckoned in terms of all the three measures of unemployment – usual status, current weekly status, and current daily status - used by NSS, Kerala has the highest incidence of unemployment both for males and females and in rural as well as urban areas. Educated unemployment in the State is even more severe. This paper analyse the occupational structure of the scheduled caste women in the State.