An Econometric Analysis of Inter-State Variations in Women’s Labour Force Participation in India

Masood, Tariq and Ahmad, Mohd. Izhar (2009): An Econometric Analysis of Inter-State Variations in Women’s Labour Force Participation in India.

Abstract

The study attempts to investigate the factors responsible for the inter-state variations in women’s labour force participation in India by using the NSSO 61st round (2004-05) data. Two separate regression models for rural and urban women between women’s labor force participation as dependent variable and its various possible determinants have been estimated to identify the factors determining the rural and urban women’s labour force participation by using cross sectional data of all states and union territories of India. Our findings suggest that Personal variables education and wages are significant determinants of urban women’s labour force participation but not of rural women’s labour force participation. Other important determinants of women’s labour force participation are sex ratio, Muslim population, SC and ST population and Unemployment rate.

• Item Type: MPRA Paper
• Language: English
• Keywords: Women’s Labour Force Participation, Interstate Variations, India
• Subjects: J - Labor and Demographic Economics > J2 - Demand and Supply of Labor > J21 - Labor Force and Employment, Size, and Structure; J - Labor and Demographic Economics > J7 - Labor Discrimination > J71 - Discrimination; C - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods > C2 - Single Equation Models ; Single Variables > C21 - Cross-Sectional Models ; Spatial Models ; Treatment Effect Models ; Quantile Regressions

References

• Bardhan, P. K. (1979), “Labour Supply Functions in a Poor Agrarian Economy”, American Economic Review, 69(1): 73-83. • Becker, G. (1965), “A Theory of Allocation of Time”, Economic Journal, 75:493-517. • Becker, G. (1991), “A Treatise on the Family”, Enlarged Edition, Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

• Cain, G. G. (1966), “Labor Force Participation of Married Women”, University of Chicago Press, Chicago.

• Dasgupta, P. (2005), “Female labour supply in rural India- an econometric analysis” Working Paper Series No. E/265/2005, Institute of Economic Growth, Delhi.

• Goldin, C. (1994), “The U-shaped Female Labour Force Function in Economic Development and Economic History”, NBER Working Paper No. 4707.

• Greene W. H. (2003), “Econometric analysis”, fifth edition, Pearson Education, Singapore.

• King, A. G. (1978), “Industrial Structure, the Flexibility of Working Hours and Women’s Labor Force Participation” Review of Economics and Statistics, 60: 399-407.

• Kingdon, G. G. and Unni, J. (2001), “Education and Women’s Labour Market Outcomes in India”, Education Economics, 9(2): 174-195.

• Lim, L. L. (2002), “Female labour-force participation”, In: Expert Group Meeting on Completing the Fertility Transition, New York, 11-14, [compiled by] United Nations. Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division.

• Mammen, K. and Paxson, C. (2000), “Women’s Work and Economic Development”, Journal of Economic Perspectives, 14(4):141-164.

• Mathur, A. (1994), "Work Participation, Gender and Economic Development: A Quantitative Anatomy of the Indian Scenario", The Journal of Development Studies, 30(2): 466-504.

• Mincer, J. (1962), “Labor Force Participation of Married Women: A Study of Labor Supply”, Aspects of Labor Economics, Princeton, N.J.: National Bureau of Economic Research, Princeton University Press.

• Mincer, J. (1966), “Labor Force Participation and Unemployment: A Review of Recent Evidence”, in R.A. Gordon and M.S. Gordon (eds.), Prosperity and Unemployment, New York: John Wiley and Sons Inc.

• Mincer, J. (1985), “Inter-country Comparisons of Labor Force Trends and of Related Developments: An Overview”, Journal of Labor Economics, 3(1), Part I: S1-S32.

• Olsen, W. and Mehta, S. (2006), “Female Labour Participation in Rural and Urban India: Does Housewives' Work Count?” Radical Statistics, 93: 57-90.

• Tansel, A. (2002), “Economic Development and Female Labour Force Participation in Turkey: Time Series Evidence and Cross Province Estimates”, ERC Working Papers in Economics 01/05.

• Sackey, H .A. (2005), “Female labour force participation in Ghana: The effects of education”, AERC Research Paper 150, African Economic Research Consortium, Nairobi.