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Women's Participation in the Egyptian Labor Market: 1998-2012

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  • Rana Hendy

    (Economic Research Forum)

Abstract

This paper examines the reasons for the persistently low participation of women in the Egyptian labor market over time and across the different economic sectors, using the Egypt Labor Market Panel Survey (ELMPS) 2012. This panel dataset allows for an examination of the period leading up to and including the revolution, as it covers three different points in time: 1998, 2006 and 2012. Despite the remarkable increase in women’s educational attainment, which has become higher for women than their male counterparts, participation in the labor market remains relatively low. Confirming widespread opinion, the findings indicate that the January 25 Revolution has had a negative effect on women’s status in the labor market. Labor force participation has decreased, and unemployment has increased. It is thus important to analyze the different determinants of low female labor force participation. These include factors related to the supply of female labor, relating to family circumstances such as marriage, fertility and time use, women’s preferences and reservation wages; as well as the factors related to the demand side, such as the shrinking public sector and discrimination in the private sector.

Suggested Citation

  • Rana Hendy, 2015. "Women's Participation in the Egyptian Labor Market: 1998-2012," Working Papers 907, Economic Research Forum, revised May 2015.
    • Handle: RePEc:erg:wpaper:907
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Tsani, Stella & Paroussos, Leonidas & Fragiadakis, Costas & Charalambidis, Ioannis & Capros, Pantelis, 2013. "Female labour force participation and economic growth in the South Mediterranean countries," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 120(2), pages 323-328.
    2. Ragui Assaad & Caroline Krafft, 2013. "The Egypt labor market panel survey: introducing the 2012 round," IZA Journal of Labor & Development, Springer;Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 2(1), pages 1-30, December.
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    Cited by:

    1. Caroline Krafft & Ragui Assaad, 2016. "Inequality of Opportunity in the Labor Market for Higher Education Graduates in Egypt and Jordan," International Economic Association Series, in: Ishac Diwan & Ahmed Galal (ed.), The Middle East Economies in Times of Transition, chapter 5, pages 159-185, Palgrave Macmillan.
    2. Ragui Assaad & Caroline Krafft, 2023. "Labour market dynamics and youth unemployment in the Middle East and North Africa: Evidence from Egypt, Jordan, and Tunisia," LABOUR, CEIS, vol. 37(4), pages 519-553, December.
    3. May Gadallah & Maia Sieverding & Rania Roushdy, 2017. "The Effect of Mothers’ Employment on Youth Gender Role Attitudes: Evidence From Egypt," Working Papers 1125, Economic Research Forum, revised 08 Oct 2017.
    4. Ragui Assaad & Rana Hendy & Moundir Lassassi & Shaimaa Yassin, 2020. "Explaining the MENA paradox: Rising educational attainment yet stagnant female labor force participation," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 43(28), pages 817-850.
    5. Burke Ronald J. & El-Kot Ghada & Wolpin Jacob, 2016. "Sex Differences in Work Experiences and Work Outcomes among Egyptian Managers and Professionals: An Exploratory Study," Journal of Intercultural Management, Sciendo, vol. 8(1), pages 7-29, January.
    6. Abeer Mohamed Ali Abd Elkhalek, 2019. "Economic Development and Participation of Women in Services Sector: Empirical Evidence from Egypt," International Journal of Economics and Finance, Canadian Center of Science and Education, vol. 11(2), pages 155-164, February.
    7. Caroline Krafft, 2020. "Why is fertility on the rise in Egypt? The role of women’s employment opportunities," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 33(4), pages 1173-1218, October.
    8. Irene Selwaness & Caroline Krafft, 2021. "The Dynamics of Family Formation and Women’s Work: What Facilitates and Hinders Female Employment in the Middle East and North Africa?," Population Research and Policy Review, Springer;Southern Demographic Association (SDA), vol. 40(3), pages 533-587, June.
    9. Rim Ben Mouelhi & Mohamed Goaied, 2017. "Women in the Tunisian Labor Market," Working Papers 1160, Economic Research Forum, revised 11 2017.
    10. Ragui Assaad & Caroline Krafft & Irene Selwaness, 2017. "The Impact of Early Marriage on Women’s Employment in the Middle East and North Africa," Working Papers 1086, Economic Research Forum, revised 04 2017.
    11. Seamus Murphy & Diksha Arora & Froukje Kruijssen & Cynthia McDougall & Paula Kantor, 2020. "Gender-based market constraints to informal fish retailing: Evidence from analysis of variance and linear regression," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 15(3), pages 1-16, March.
    12. Caroline Krafft, 2016. "Understanding the Dynamics of Household Enterprises in Egypt: Birth, Death, Growth and Transformation," Working Papers 983, Economic Research Forum, revised Mar 2016.
    13. Krafft Caroline & Assaad Ragui, 2021. "Introducing the Jordan Labor Market Panel Survey 2016," IZA Journal of Development and Migration, Sciendo & Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 12(1), pages 1-42, January.
    14. May Gadallah & Rania Roushdy & Maia Sieverding, 2017. "Young People’s Gender Role Attitudes Over the Transition to Adulthood in Egypt," Working Papers 1122, Economic Research Forum, revised 07 2017.
    15. Fatma Romeh M. Ali & Shiferaw Gurmu, 2018. "The impact of female education on fertility: a natural experiment from Egypt," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 16(3), pages 681-712, September.
    16. Ghada Barsoum & Ahmed Rashad, 2018. "Does Private Higher Education Improve Employment Outcomes? Comparative Analysis from Egypt," Public Organization Review, Springer, vol. 18(1), pages 125-142, March.
    17. Anda David & Rana Hendy, 2016. "Does International Migration Help Them Marry earlier? A Hazard Model for the Case of Egypt," Working Papers 1051, Economic Research Forum, revised 09 Jan 2016.
    18. Heba E. Helmy, 2019. "Thirty Years of Urban Bias: An Estimation of the Rising Disparities in Female Rural and Female Urban Unemployment and Income in Egypt," Agrarian South: Journal of Political Economy, Centre for Agrarian Research and Education for South, vol. 8(3), pages 349-390, December.
    19. Yount, Kathryn M. & Crandall, AliceAnn & Cheong, Yuk Fai, 2018. "Women’s Age at First Marriage and Long-Term Economic Empowerment in Egypt," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 102(C), pages 124-134.
    20. Ragui Assaad & Caroline Krafft & John Roemer & Djavad Salehi-Isfahani, 2016. "Inequality of Opportunity in Income and Consumption in Egypt," Working Papers 1002, Economic Research Forum, revised May 2016.
    21. El-Mallakh,Nelly, 2020. "Internet Job Search, Employment, and Wage Growth : Evidence from the Arab Republic of Egypt," Policy Research Working Paper Series 9196, The World Bank.
    22. Jenny Liu & Sepideh Modrek & Maia Sieverding, 2017. "The mental health of youth and young adults during the transition to adulthood in Egypt," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 36(56), pages 1721-1758.

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