IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/ijlaec/v66y2023i1d10.1007_s41027-023-00431-y.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Determinants of Female Labour Force Participation in India: Evidence from Supply Side

Author

Listed:
  • Varsha Gupta

    (Jawaharlal Nehru University)

Abstract

Female labour force participation (FLFP) in India has gone down from 42.74% in 2005 to 24.53% in 2019. This is the case when education levels have gone up and fertility rate has declined. Against this backdrop, this paper studies the low figures of female employment in India. It draws out the determinants of FLFPduring 2005 to 2019 using NSS EUS and PLFS data. With the use of a probit, shapley value decomposition and IV-probit method, the various supply side factors which aid or impede FLFP are brought out. Results from probit regression show that women’s age, education levels, marital status, presence of children, household size, and social & income group of the household and occupation type are significant determinants of FLFP. Shapley value decomposition shows that age and education level of women together explain 37% of the variation in rural areas and 51% in urban areas in 2019. Education’s contribution to FLFP is the highest in urban areas at 20% in 2019. State level heterogeneity, an indicator of labour demand, also explains about one-fourth of the total variation in FLFP. Further, regression with the use of IV-probit model, to counter the potential endogeneity of household monthly consumption expenditure, reveals presence of negative income effect in 2019. Being married, presence of children and staying in a large household reduces the probability of FLFP. Occupational structure of the household is also a significant factor. The probability of participation rises when a woman belongs to a regular salaried household vis-à-vis the self-employed. Education levels of secondary school and above are significant and positively associated with FLFP. There is also a caste pattern visible with higher probability of participation among the scheduled tribes (ST) and scheduled castes (SC) vis-à-vis other castes. Higher education has a stronger positive effect on FLFP in urban areas while household income, presence of children and being married have a stronger negative effect on rural FLFP. The variation by caste presents effect of social norms though its significance has reduced over the years. Inter-temporal analysis presents that the effect of children and household income levels has reduced over time; however, that has not translated to higher probability of FLFP. This is an indication of demand side issues in FLFP in India.

Suggested Citation

  • Varsha Gupta, 2023. "Determinants of Female Labour Force Participation in India: Evidence from Supply Side," The Indian Journal of Labour Economics, Springer;The Indian Society of Labour Economics (ISLE), vol. 66(1), pages 203-223, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:ijlaec:v:66:y:2023:i:1:d:10.1007_s41027-023-00431-y
    DOI: 10.1007/s41027-023-00431-y
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s41027-023-00431-y
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s41027-023-00431-y?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Arup Mitra & Aya Okada, 2018. "Labour Market Participation in India: A Region- and Gender-Specific Study," SpringerBriefs in Economics, in: Labour Market Participation in India, pages 1-51, Springer.
    2. Farzana Afridi & Taryn Dinkelman & Kanika Mahajan, 2018. "Why are fewer married women joining the work force in rural India? A decomposition analysis over two decades," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 31(3), pages 783-818, July.
    3. Mehrotra, Santosh & Parida, Jajati K., 2017. "Why is the Labour Force Participation of Women Declining in India?," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 98(C), pages 360-380.
    4. Sonalde Desai & Omkar Joshi, 2019. "The Paradox of Declining Female Work Participation in an Era of Economic Growth," The Indian Journal of Labour Economics, Springer;The Indian Society of Labour Economics (ISLE), vol. 62(1), pages 55-71, March.
    5. Stephan Klasen & Janneke Pieters, 2015. "What Explains the Stagnation of Female Labor Force Participation in Urban India?," The World Bank Economic Review, World Bank Group, vol. 29(3), pages 449-478.
    6. Anthony Shorrocks, 2013. "Decomposition procedures for distributional analysis: a unified framework based on the Shapley value," The Journal of Economic Inequality, Springer;Society for the Study of Economic Inequality, vol. 11(1), pages 99-126, March.
    7. Andres,Luis Alberto & Dasgupta,Basab & Joseph,George & Abraham,Vinoj & Correia,Maria C., 2017. "Precarious drop : reassessing patterns of female labor force participation in India," Policy Research Working Paper Series 8024, The World Bank.
    8. Krishna Surjya Das & Deepak Kumar Mishra, 2018. "Woman and work in rural Assam: pattern and determinants," Journal of Social and Economic Development, Springer;Institute for Social and Economic Change, vol. 20(2), pages 213-239, October.
    9. Arup Mitra & Aya Okada, 2018. "Labour Market Participation in India," SpringerBriefs in Economics, Springer, number 978-981-10-7143-0, October.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Deininger,Klaus W. & Jin,Songqing & Nagarajan,Hari Krishnan & Singh,Sudhir K., 2020. "Political Reservation and Female Labor Force Participation in Rural India," Policy Research Working Paper Series 9350, The World Bank.
    2. Gupta, Tanu & Negi, Digvijay S., 2021. "Daughter vs. Daughter-in-Law: Kinship Roles and Women's Time Use in India," 2021 Annual Meeting, August 1-3, Austin, Texas 313373, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    3. Deshpande, Ashwini & Singh, Jitendra, 2021. "Dropping Out, Being Pushed Out or Can’t Get in? Decoding Declining Labour Force Participation of Indian Women," IZA Discussion Papers 14639, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    4. Priyanka, Sadia, 2020. "Do female politicians matter for female labor market outcomes? Evidence from state legislative elections in India," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 64(C).
    5. Ashwini Deshpande & Jitendra Singh, 2021. "Dropping Out, Being Pushed out or Can't Get In? Decoding Declining Labour Force Participation of Indian Women," Working Papers 65, Ashoka University, Department of Economics.
    6. Ishita Pal & Balhasan Ali & Preeti Dhillon & Neelanjana Pandey, 2021. "Factors Determining Paid and Unpaid Work in Young Adults: Evidence from a Cohort Study in Bihar, India," The Indian Journal of Labour Economics, Springer;The Indian Society of Labour Economics (ISLE), vol. 64(1), pages 133-153, March.
    7. Rajesh Gupta & Vaibhav Bhamoriya, 2021. "‘Give Me Some Rail’: An Enquiry into Puzzle of Declining Female Labour Force Participation Rate," Management and Labour Studies, XLRI Jamshedpur, School of Business Management & Human Resources, vol. 46(1), pages 7-23, February.
    8. Deeksha Tayal & Sourabh Paul, 2021. "Labour Force Participation Rate of Women in Urban India: An Age-Cohort-Wise Analysis," The Indian Journal of Labour Economics, Springer;The Indian Society of Labour Economics (ISLE), vol. 64(3), pages 565-593, September.
    9. Margaux Suteau, 2020. "Inheritance Rights and Women's Empowerment in the Labor and Marriage Markets," THEMA Working Papers 2020-17, THEMA (THéorie Economique, Modélisation et Applications), Université de Cergy-Pontoise.
    10. Amrita Datta & Tanuka Endow & Balwant Singh Mehta, 2020. "Education, Caste and Women’s Work in India," The Indian Journal of Labour Economics, Springer;The Indian Society of Labour Economics (ISLE), vol. 63(2), pages 387-406, June.
    11. Balhasan Ali & Preeti Dhillon & Sivakami Muthusamy & Udaya Shankar Mishra, 2023. "Understanding Female Labour Force Participation and Domestic Work in India: The Role of Co-residence and Household Composition," Journal of Development Policy and Practice, , vol. 8(2), pages 162-193, July.
    12. Sarkar, Sudipa & Sahoo, Soham & Klasen, Stephan, 2019. "Employment transitions of women in India: A panel analysis," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 115(C), pages 291-309.
    13. Pritam Ranjan SAHU & Deepak Kumar BEHERA, 2023. "Female Labour Force Participation In India, 2017-2020: Approach Towards Sustainable Development," Regional and Sectoral Economic Studies, Euro-American Association of Economic Development, vol. 23(2), pages 109-126.
    14. Varsha Gupta, 2021. "Female Employment in India: Tracking Trends During 2005–2019," The Indian Journal of Labour Economics, Springer;The Indian Society of Labour Economics (ISLE), vol. 64(3), pages 803-823, September.
    15. Nancy Luke, 2019. "Gender and social mobility: Exploring gender attitudes and women's labour force participation," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2019-108, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    16. Mohammad Niaz Asadullah & Zaki Wahhaj, 2019. "Female Seclusion from Paid Work: A Social Norm or Cultural Preference?," Working Papers ECARES 2019-10, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles.
    17. Rajshri Jayaraman & Bisma Khan, 2023. "Does co-residence with parents-in-law reduce women's employment in India?," Working Papers tecipa-747, University of Toronto, Department of Economics.
    18. Rajshri Jayaraman & Bisma Khan, 2023. "Does Co-Residence with Parents-In-Law Reduce Women’s Employment in India?," CESifo Working Paper Series 10238, CESifo.
    19. Deshpande, Ashwini & Khanna, Shantanu & Walia, Daksh, 2023. "An Indian Enigma? Labour Market Impacts of the World's Largest Livelihoods Program," GLO Discussion Paper Series 1311, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    20. Rajshri Jayaraman & Bisma Khan, 2023. "Does Co-Residence with Parents-In-Law Reduce Women’s Employment in India?," Working Papers 2023-004, Human Capital and Economic Opportunity Working Group.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:spr:ijlaec:v:66:y:2023:i:1:d:10.1007_s41027-023-00431-y. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.