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Labor Economics: Women Labor Force Participation

Introduction

This trend has been seen in numerous nations, including the United States, during the past few decades. The Netherlands is a brilliant beacon about how to do things well, with a fourfold rise in female engagement in the preceding five years. This is a significant shift in Dutch society, and it is reflected in a variety of ways throughout the country (Goel, 2021). Prior to anything else, the increased engagement of women in formal production has important ramifications for society. Even while women still have a long way to go before they can compete with men in terms of full-time employment and compensation, they are making strides in the right direction.

Improving the formal productive contribution of women also has a positive impact on economic growth, which is an important factor to take into account. The large increase in female participation in the Dutch economy towards the end of the 1990s was a contributing factor to the country’s rapid economic boom in the 1990s (Goel, 2021). Third, fiscal and changing demographics are taking place at the same time as well. The welfare state is under strain as a result of the aging population, and many people believe that increasing the participation rate will help it remain economically sound. It is possible to avoid a severe budget imbalance by increasing the number of people who are employed in the country.

First and foremost, we want to examine the factors contributing to the rise in the female labor force participation rate during the last century. Is it more likely for younger people to get a job than older adults? Alternatively, did the favorable economic circumstances of the late 1990s encourage women to enter the workforce? We can fully decompose the observed increase throughout the time in question (Rose, 2018). Second, we want to determine which elements will be relevant in the following decades and centuries to come. Several things might change in the future, but others are likely to be just as significant.

Women’s changing life trajectories are being researched historically and qualitatively using structural econometric technique of cash incentives and life cycle decision-making. There is also quantitative literature that uses panel data and repeated cross-sections to explain changes in labor market behavior across time. What we are interested in are two things in particular. First, we review various empirical studies that show a consistent rise in the number of women in the workforce through time in several nations (Goel, 2021). Two examples of empirical research on the effects of the cyclical variations on labor market behavior are discussed: The discouraged worker and additional worker effects.

Growth proportion of women workforce

There has been a significant amount of research done by social scientists on the increasing participation of women in the workforce in many Western countries. Before going to the Netherlands, some early and present research from the United Kingdom or the United States is necessary (Apgar & McManus, 2018). It was possible to do an earlier study on female labour market participation during the twentieth century because of census data from the United Kingdom and the United States. Economic experts in both countries sought to determine if the increase in female involvement could be accounted for by increasing real wages (Goel, 2021). Using cross-sectional data from the 1974 United Kingdom Household Survey, women’s increasing engagement in the workforce between 1973 and 1977 may be linked to higher incomes. Only a tiny portion of the rise in female participation can be attributed to increases in women’s wages in this study. For the authors, declining birth rates and long-term changes in how women see their lives and their place in society explain why family servant costs have fallen (Lve & Yang, 2018).

As shown by census statistics, growing real wages are responsible for more than 60% of the increase in female labour force participation since 1950. No one knows why levels of involvement haven’t risen earlier in history despite increasing affluence. Several other factors must have been at play, such as changing attitudes about women’s roles in the workforce and a rise in female fecundity (Assaad et al., 2020). They found strong cohort effects on female labour-force participation in the census and certified public secretary’s data from 1940 to 1988. They think that gender gaps are becoming less noticeable since women across the cohorts worked no significant changes in the hours. Using the certificate public secretaries 1975-1994 shows that participation has risen significantly, although working hours have only increased a little.

It has also emerged that the number of women in high-level jobs has increased. Calibrate a life-cycle model for three generations of women using the Panel research of income dynamics 1969-1998. According to their findings, the significant increase in female labour supply through generations may be attributed to changes in childbirth costs compared to lifetime wages. As the number of women working in many fields has risen, several studies have been conducted. Several papers used repeated cross-sections and census data in a special issue of the Journal of Labor Economics. Nation after nation has taken part, and they will continue to do so.

From the 1970s to the 1980s, Dutch women’s labor-force participation began to grow. The 1979 Terms of Work Survey explored women’s employment patterns. They find that salary growth had a considerable influence in explaining the rise in participation that occurred in World War II. It is worth mentioning that at the time, the female participation rate was 37 percent, which was substantially lower than the Organization economic cooperation and development average (Allahverdieva, 2020).Researchers analyzed the Supplementary Benefits Surveys in 1979 and 1987 for their work, revealing a 50 percent rise between the first administration of these surveys in 1979 and the second administration in 1987. They argue that the rise in female participation must be attributable to changing preferences.

The actual salary increase was relatively modest due to the economic crisis and pay moderation regulations. The Socio-Economic Panel 1994-1999 was used to evaluate the growth in female involvement in the 1990s. Like the previous authors, they conclude that preferences must have had a significant influence, albeit pay growth remained modest due to wage moderation. The number of married women who participated in the Housing Demand Surveys in 1989/1990 and 1998/1999 has grown (Goel, 2021). Wages appear to have had a significant impact on the rise of female involvement in the United Kingdom and the United States. In contrast, results in Holland tended to focus more on demographic shifts. People who use the notion of social custom to underline the need to change social norms to grow female labor-force participation are addressing this trend.

Additional and discouraging effects on employees

In the year, several unplanned events directly influence the workforce. Many of these occurrences are unrelated to one another or even to the workforce. Even if there is a link, the economy will lead to it in the long run. Employee dissatisfaction and the need for more personnel are two instances of this. Depressed workers, according to the discouraged worker theory, quit the workforce if they think they have little prospect of finding a job in a poor labor market climate. Economists have widely accepted an influential role, although empirical research has struggled to prove it. However, evidence suggests that this might happen. According to time-series analyses, labor market participation and other indicators in some nations are pro-cyclical (Mihut, 2021).

Furthermore, it may use geographical variation in the Netherlands and Germany to examine regional differences in the labor market state. Because her husband is unemployed, this hypothesis holds that the wife is more inclined to work (Ginzberg et al., 2019). The “added worker theory” refers to this. Unhappy employees have a negative macroeconomic impact when unemployment is high. Even if such a thing exists, it may be the tiniest of things. There is no evidence of an extra worker effect, as determined by the end of 1976 and 1982.

Related to the long increases in the labor supply of women, employees who were displaced between 1968 and 1992 accounted for nearly 25% of the husband’s lost income during that period. According to studies, women of high-earning men are more inclined than ladies of lesser men to have a positive impact on the workplace in addition to their husbands’ earnings (Goel, 2021). In the European Panel Household Survey 1994-1996, only a handful of nations found a link between a couple’s work position and marital status. As a result, there isn’t much evidence to support the argument that hiring more people is beneficial. In certain nations, the impact of recruiting more workers may be negligible.

Advantages and disadvantages

Two transitions have occurred throughout the Industrial Revolution and recently in East and Southeast Asia: workers moving from agriculture to industry (and more recently, service industries) and people moving from rural regions into cities (Whitaker & Vergara, 2021). Several socio-economic factors, such as the increasing educational attainment of the general population, dropping fertility rates, and other transformations, have contributed to these changes, which have had particular repercussions for women’s place in the workforce.

As a result, the expansion of the female labor supply is a causal factor of economic development. Women’s greater engagement in the workforce can accelerate the rate of economic growth in developing countries. As countries advance, women’s abilities and societal restrictions increase, allowing them to pursue employment outside the home due to development. As a result, government authorities must be aware of the availability of women’s labor and maintain track of women’s participation in the labor force. Labor force participation is a function of both supply- and demand-side variables working together.

Two transitions have marked eastern and sections of South Asia’s growth: the movement of workers from agriculture to the industry during the Industrialization and, more recently (and more subsequently, services). The decline in childbearing rates and the rise in educational attainment are linked to these shifts. As a result, women’s roles in the workforce will be affected (Bäcker, 2020).So, the availability of female labor contributes to and benefits from economic growth. Women’s greater engagement in the workforce can boost economic growth by increasing the amount of labor placed into the economy. In the modern world, women’s abilities and cultural constraints allow them to work outside the home (Ehrenberg et al., 2021). As a result, policymakers should be aware of the labor supply from women and the extent to which they are participating in the labor force. Labor force participation is heavily influenced by both supply- and demand-side factors.

A woman’s job status may be impacted, for example, by poverty (as is the case in low-income countries) and by her improved educational attainment and opportunities to work in a more current economy, which are all connected. It is common for women to take up (often unpaid) employment in times of crisis to ensure their families don’t go hungry. It occurred in Indonesia following the 1997– 98 East Asian Financial Crisis.

In addition, the type of work that women do and their level of participation in the labor market must be considered. As a rule, women are paid less than males and are assigned to lower-paying occupations when they get work. A woman’s ability to get a job is directly correlated to her education degree, whether in developed or developing countries.

Conclusion

Since the Industrial Revolution, the changing position of women in the workforce has had a significant impact on development. However, a correlation between economic progress and engagement isn’t always obvious. According to cross-sectional statistics, there is a U-shaped link between female labor force participation and Gross domestic product per capita. However, this relationship is weak and inconsistent at the national level (Aggarwal, 2021). The number of occupations held by women is influenced by various factors, including education, childbearing rates, cultural norms, and the creation of new jobs.

To take advantage of new job opportunities and higher wages as the economy grows, women must have equal access to higher-paying professions. They may be able to contribute to the country’s progress in this way (Caldwell & Larsen, 2021). Policymakers must consider both supply and demand-side issues, such as increasing access to quality education and training programs and improving the safety of working mothers, because women in developing countries face unique challenges when it comes to securing and advancing their economic well-being. To take advantage of post-secondary training opportunities, young girls must be encouraged to continue in school and receive a high-quality education beyond junior high school. Consequently, additional difficulties in obtaining high-quality work will be less of an issue.

References

Aggarwal, M. (2021). Linkages between innovation, Financial Development and female labor force participation: Evidence from India. SSRN Electronic Journal. https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3903166

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Apgar, L., & McManus, P. A. (2018). Cultural persistence and labor force participation among partnered second-generation women in the United States. Social Forces98(1), 211–244. https://doi.org/10.1093/sf/soy104

Ehrenberg, R. G., Smith, R. S., & Hallock, K. F. (2021). Modern labor economics: Theory and public policy. Routledge.

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Bäcker, A. (2020). The less women get sick from covid-19, the more they die from it if they do: Islamic countries have lower relative female COVID-19 morbidities and higher relative female COVID-19 fatality rates. SSRN Electronic Journal. https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3626924

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Goel, A. (2021). Representation of the ‘queer’ community in the video media format, its evolution over the past few decades and the way it has reflected and shaped the views of the society. SSRN Electronic Journal. https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3841686

Lv, Z., & Yang, R. (2018). Does women’s participation in politics increase female labor participation? evidence from panel data analysis. Economics Letters170, 35–38. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.econlet.2018.05.013

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