Determinants of moonlighting in Ghana: an empirical investigation

Baah-Boateng, William and Adjei, Prince and Oduro, Abena (2013): Determinants of moonlighting in Ghana: an empirical investigation. Published in: African Review of Economics and Finance , Vol. 4, No. 2 (June 2013): pp. 1-27.

Abstract

The desire of workers to engage in moonlighting, a phenomenon of multiple job-holding is a reflection of some of the changing labour market outcomes. Public sector workers who suffered loss of jobs through public sector retrenchment and privatisation as part of Ghana’s economic reform resorted to holding more than one job to earn enough to avert any substantial drop in their living conditions. Despite the seemingly conspicuous existence of multiple job-holding in Ghana, much remains to be learnt about its determinants and characteristics of the phenomenon. This article employs the probit regression estimation technique based on the two most recent nationwide household surveys conducted in 1998/99 and 2005/06 to investigate the main determinants of moonlighting in Ghana. It provides empirical evidence to suggest that personal and household characteristics as well as location and labour market characteristics such as individual earnings and hours spent in the main job significantly influence an individual’s desire to engage in more than one job. The study concludes that apart from the financial motive that drives an individual’s decision to moonlight, the engagement of moonlighting on account of lower working hours in the individual’s main job could be a symptom of visible or time-related underemployment.

• Item Type: MPRA Paper
• Language: English
• Keywords: Moonlighting, Multiple job-holding, Employment, Earnings, Underemployment, Ghana
• Subjects: J - Labor and Demographic Economics > J2 - Demand and Supply of Labor > J22 - Time Allocation and Labor Supply

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