Low Labor Force Participation Research Articles

Jointly Modeling Male and Female Labor Participation and Unemployment

The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in the most abrupt changes in U.S. labor force participation and unemployment since the Second World War, with different consequences for men and women. This paper models the U.S. labor market to help to interpret the pandemic’s effects. After replicating and extending Emerson’s (2011) model of the labor market, we formulate a joint model of male and female unemployment and labor force participation rates for 1980–2019 and use it to forecast into the pandemic to understand the pandemic’s labor market consequences. Gender-specific differences were particularly large at the pandemic’s outset; lower labor force participation persists.

Employment outcomes and experiences of people with seeing disability in Canada: An analysis of the Canadian Survey on Disability 2017.

BackgroundMany individuals with disabilities face barriers to meaningful employment. Legislation has been put in place to ensure employment equity for individuals with disabilities in Canada. However, little is known about the employment profile and experiences of people with seeing disabilities.ObjectivesThe objectives of our research study were to explore the employment rates of people with seeing disabilities in Canada, the factors associated with being employed, and supports and barriers that affect their work participation.MethodsWe used the nationally representative data from the Canadian Survey on Disability (CSD) 2017, collected by Statistics Canada. The CSD is a national cross-sectional survey of Canadians 15 years of age and above who face a functional limitation due to a health-related condition, representing more than 6 million (n = 6,246,640) Canadians. Our analyses focused on people who reported having a seeing disability. A subset of the complete dataset was created, focusing on individuals with a seeing disability. Weighted descriptive analyses were performed using SPSS. Multivariate logistic regression analyses were conducted for individuals between 25–64 years of age to identify predictors of employment.ResultsOut of the estimated 892,220 working-age adults (25–64 years) with a seeing disability who were represented by the survey, 54% were employed, 6% were unemployed and 40% were not in the labour force. Early onset of seeing disability (OR: 1.33; 95% CI: 1.32–1.35), less severe seeing disability (OR: 1.51; 95% CI: 1.49–1.53), education above high school (OR: 2.00; 95% CI: 1.97–2.02) and daily use of the internet (OR: 2.46; 95% CI: 2.41–2.51) were positively related with employment. The top three employment accommodations that were needed and were made available included: modified work hours (45%); work from home (38.5%) and a modified workstation (37%). The top three needed but least available accommodations were technical aids (14%), communication aids (22%) and a computer with specialized software or adaptation (27%). Overall, 26% reported that an accommodation was required but was not made available by the employer. While 75% of individuals with a seeing disability were out of the labour force due to their condition, the remaining identified barriers that prevented them from working which included (top 3): (i) too few jobs available (20%); (ii) inadequate training/experience (19%), (iii) past attempts at finding employment were unsuccessful (19%).ConclusionAdults with seeing disability in Canada experience lower labour force participation than the general population. Rigorous programs are required to assist them with the job search, job retraining and workplace accommodations. It is important for governments to improve efforts towards inclusive education and develop strategies that promote digital literacy of employees and job seekers with visual impairments. Although accessibility legislations have been put in place, programs should be established that provide accessibility solutions for various employers, enabling them to hire individuals with different abilities.

Employment trajectories among those treated for alcohol use disorder: A register-based cohort study.

Employment during and following treatment for alcohol use disorder (AUD) is important for the individual's health and well-being and for reducing the societal costs associated with benefit payments. Nonetheless, this is an under-researched topic. This study aimed to identify trajectories of labour force participation among people enrolled in AUD treatment and describe the characteristics of those following contrasting pathways. Using trajectory analysis, we modelled employment trajectory groups among AUD patients during the year of treatment entry and the 4 subsequent years, applying Norwegian longitudinal register data. Norway. Patients who entered treatment with AUD as the primary diagnosis during 2009 and 2010 (9000 patients, age 20-61 years). The outcome variable 'labour force attachment' was measured as being in full-time employment, partly employed, on temporary welfare benefits or on permanent disability pension. Predictors were age, gender, education and comorbid mental health and drug use disorders. We distinguished six employment trajectories among AUD patients: 15.8% were on permanent disability pension throughout, 8.7% exited the labour force on permanent disability pension during the observation period, 32.1% had a medium attachment throughout follow-up, and 9.2% had a decreasing attachment; 23.3% had a high labour force attachment throughout, and 10.9% experienced increasing attachment. High attachment throughout was negatively associated with being female (P < 0.001), having lower educational attainment (P < 0.001), and having comorbid mental health (P < 0.001) and drug use disorders (P < 0.001). Norwegian patients treated for alcohol use disorder in 2009 and 2010 followed six employment trajectories during the 5 years following treatment entry and had lower labour force participation than the general population. Nearly a quarter had a high labour force attachment throughout treatment, which was positively associated with being male, having higher educational attainment and having fewer comorbid mental health and drug use disorders.

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.&#x0D; 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.&#x0D; 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.&#x0D; Findings &amp; 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.

No escape from tradition? Source country culture and gendered employment patterns among immigrants in Sweden

The study aims to explore whether gendered family roles in the country of origin and the country of destination explain labor market outcomes for immigrants in Sweden. We examine the assumptions of the source country culture literature—that traditional gender norms in immigrants’ source countries drive women’s employment in the new country—by focusing on gender differences and exploring group- and individual-level mechanisms, notably, that of care responsibilities. Using Swedish register data, comprising more than 660 000 individuals from 110 source countries, we analyze the labor market establishment of immigrant women and men in 2016 with multi-level regressions. Findings show that the gender gap in employment is significantly larger among groups from countries with low female labor force participation. Much of this gap is explained by women’s care responsibilities, both at arrival and through continued fertility after arrival. Thus, even in Sweden, with longstanding policies promoting female employment, immigrant women’s employment is conditioned by the gender-traditionality of their source countries. The findings question the gender-equalizing power of welfare state institutions in the face of increasing immigration. However, education crucially affects the implications of cultural background and fertility. In future research, these mechanisms—including the group-level correlations—should be further explored to better pinpoint the obstacles facing women from traditional countries.

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.&#x0D; 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.&#x0D; 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.&#x0D; 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.&#x0D; 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.

Why Is Female Labour Force Participation So Low in India?

In this article, we analyse the reasons for low female labour force participation (FLFP) across approximately 14,000 households in the Indian urban clusters of Dhanbad, Indore, Patna and Varanasi. We argue that expectations placed upon women to carry out household duties generate incentives for them to largely seek part-time work near their homes, due to what we term as flexibility and proximity of work. While this characterises most agricultural employment, this is not true of urban employment. Using this framework, we argue that requirements to travel large distances for most jobs put prohibitive costs on women entering the labour market. To empirically test our claims, we conduct a survey experiment on the female respondents who are currently unemployed in our sample to elicit labour market preferences. Our results are striking—women are 12 to 23 percentage points less likely to express a preference for a suitable job if they have to travel one hour to work. The magnitude of these effects is far greater than the impact of the primary wage earner of the household losing their job or other family members assisting the woman in household duties. We conclude the article by discussing the implications for policy.

Surviving a mass shooting

We use data on all middle and high school aged children who survived a mass shooting incident on July 22, 2011 in Utøya, Norway, to understand how such events affect survivors, their families, and their peers. Using a difference-in-differences design to compare survivors to a matched control group, we find that in the short run children who survive have substantially lower GPA (nearly 0.5 SD) and increased utilization of health care services and more mental health diagnoses. In the medium run, survivors have fewer years of schooling completed and lower labor force participation. Parents and siblings of survivors are also impacted, experiencing substantial increases in doctor visits and mental health diagnoses. However, there appear to be limited impacts on school aged peers of survivors. While this event affected the entire country, we show that survivors and their families bear significant costs despite robust social safety nets and universal access to healthcare.

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.

Geographic variation in work disability burden: Identifying hotspots, coldspots, and associated sociodemographic factors.

To identify geographic hotspots and coldspots of work disability burden and their associated sociodemographic factors in Australia. Using Australian workers' compensation and census data, we calculated weeks of compensated time off work per 1000 labor force, an indicator of work disability burden, at Statistical Area Level 4, the smallest level of labor force data produced by the Australian Bureau of Statistics. Records included all claims with at least 1 day of compensated time off work lodged between 2010 and 2015. Work disability burden was z-transformed by state and territory and mapped across Australia. Statistical Areas that were more than 1 standard deviation from the state or territory mean were considered hotspots and coldspots. We tested several sociodemographic factors as predictors of work disability burden. Work disability burden hotspots were concentrated in lower socioeconomic suburbs and exurbs of state capitals, in addition to several regional areas. Coldspots were primarily in wealthy central urban and suburban areas. Factors associated with greater work disability burden include higher area socioeconomic disadvantage, rurality, lower labor force participation, higher unemployment, higher proportion of work in production industries and in blue-collar occupations, and higher numbers of those with core activity limitations, those aged 65+ years, and foreign-born residents. Work disability burden is unequally distributed across Australia and strongly influenced by sociodemographic and occupational factors. The findings can guide more efficient allocation of resources for work disability prevention and rehabilitation.

Acceptability of employment readiness measures in youth and young adults on the autism spectrum: a mixed-methods study

Purpose Reliable, valid, and pragmatic measures are essential for monitoring and evaluating employment readiness and comparing the effectiveness of alternative implementation strategies. The Work Readiness Inventory (WRI) and Ansell–Casey Life Skills Assessment (ACLSA) are valid measures of employment readiness in neurotypical populations; however, their acceptability (i.e., user perception of measure as agreeable/satisfactory) for persons on the autism spectrum is not yet known. This investigation assesses the acceptability of the WRI and a modified ACLSA (ACLSA-M) in measuring employment readiness in youth/young adults on the spectrum. Methods A concurrent triangulation mixed-methods study design utilizing quantitative pre-post measurement of a community-based employment readiness program alongside qualitative survey assessment was employed to determine concurrent acceptability. For robustness, further explication through peer debriefing of experts evaluated the retrospective acceptability via interview and acceptability-rate assessment. Results Findings indicated that both measures are acceptable, although individual- and job-specific item modifications are advised, particularly due to disability-specific needs. Significant change in employment readiness in youth/young adults on the spectrum supports concurrent acceptability. Peer debriefing provided rich data on retrospective acceptability. Acceptability-rates of 0.84 and 0.91 confirm broad acceptability of these measures. Conclusions Implications are presented for clinicians and researchers, highlighting the relevance for autism-specific measurement development and acceptability. Implications for rehabilitation Given the lower labor force participation of persons on the autism spectrum, a combination of measures should be used in the assessment of an individual’s employment readiness. In youth and young adults on the spectrum, employment readiness can be measured using the Work Readiness Inventory (WRI) and a modified version of the Ansell–Casey Life Skills Assessment (ACLSA-M). In clinical practice and research, modifying the contents of these measures may be advised to minimize language complexity, and maximize ease in self report. When designing, developing, and testing new measures in rehabilitation practice or research, the intent should be broadened by involving diverse representation from the project outset, by engaging both those on the spectrum and neurotypical populations.

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.

Impact of Inflation on Labour Productivity in Sri Lanka

Inflation and labour productivity has been a longstanding research interest in developed and industrialized countries compared to developing countries, showing the importance of concept related to efficiency and competitiveness when the economies are growing. Capacity of the economy in Sri Lanka doubled within six years during the period from 2006 to 2012. However, aging populations, raising dependency ratio, lower labour force participation rate, are emphasized as labour force related problems that required to address. Further Sri Lanka has been identified as a country that stuck in middle income trap for a long period of time due to less economic diversification, inelastic and inefficient labour market. In these context, educational reforms to address the skills and knowledge gap in labour market demand and supply, improvement in labour productivity and efficiency-based productivity, are identified to overcome the challenges. This study explores the impact of inflation on labour productivity in Sri Lanka during the period from 2006 to 2020 by employing, univariate Vector Auto Regression model for secondary, monthly seasonally adjusted data. Model was estimated subject to conducting basic test to check unit root and cointegration of the variables. Lag order 16th for the model, was selected subject to lag length criteria, significant of the lag exclusion test, stability test and residual tests to consider the appropriateness of the model. As per the dynamic analysis of the results, labour productivity is strongly impacted by variable itself. Accordingly, previous period realization of labour productivity is associated to increase labour productivity in current period significantly by 0.54 per cent. Further, there is a negative relationship between inflation and labour productivity in short run. Accordingly, one percent increase of inflation in previous two months, are associated to decrease labour productivity by 0.014 and 0.324 on average ceteris paribus. Inverse relationship between variables is supported with the findings in empirical evidences. As per variance decompositions, labour productivity and inflation are forecasted by itself. Therefore, labour productivity and inflation are identified as strongly endogenous and strongly exogenous variables respectively. No granger causality relationships are existed between variables. Negative relationship between inflation and labour productivity is identified that imply, inflation can be effectively used in achieving higher labour productivity. Therefore, suggestions are made to keep a lower level, single digit inflation in enhancing labour productivity.

The multiplier effect of public employment on formal employment in the private sector: Evidence from Turkey*

AbstractIn this study, we analyze the causal impact of public employment generation on formal employment in the private sector in the provinces of Turkey. Our results suggest that public sector employment has a positive impact on formal employment in the private sector. This result contradicts earlier findings in developed countries suggesting that public employment crowds out private employment. We argue that labor market institutions and local labor supply elasticity may have an important role in the direction and magnitude of the impact. We find that the positive impact comes from provinces with lower labor force participation or higher unemployment rates, which may be considered as proxies for elastic local labor supply.

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.

Economic Outcomes of Immigrants with Different Migration Motives: The Role of Labour Market Policies

Abstract This paper studies the role of labour market policies for economic outcomes of immigrants with different migration motives. Using two recent European Union Labour Force Surveys ad hoc modules and applying country fixed-effects models, we examine if labour market policies can alleviate the economic disadvantage of family reunification and refugee immigrants in comparison to economic immigrants. In line with previous studies, we find that even after controlling for differences in human capital and socio-demographic characteristics, family reunification, and particularly refugee immigrants have considerably lower labour force participation and employment rates, and when employed, work fewer hours and have a lower occupational status than economic immigrants. However, we also find that the economic disadvantage of family reunification and refugee immigrants is significantly smaller in countries with more extensive labour market policies. These findings hold for the overall labour market mobility index as well as its specific sub-dimensions: general and targeted support and workers’ rights.

Why Do Past Disabilities Still Haunt the Newly Healthy?

A dynamic labour force participation model is used to estimate the impact of disability shocks on labour force participation using a longitudinal sample drawn from the National Population Health Survey. Findings suggest that state dependence play a crucial role in how temporary disabilities can have long lasting employment effects. A disability shock that last only one period is shown to lower labour force participation up to 3 additional periods. Findings are in support of policies that promote greater labour force attachment for individuals with disabilities.

Petition for a Comprehensive Law against Gender-Based Violence in Cuba

Petition for a Comprehensive Law against Gender-Based Violence in Cuba