IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/uts/wpaper/106.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

A Decomposition of the Labour Market Participation of Married Women in Three Countries: Australia, Canada and the United States of America

Author

Listed:
  • Vera Brusentsev

Abstract

This study examines cross-national variation in the labour force participation of married women in Australia, Canada and the United States of America (USA), three countries of similar socio-economic development, in order to assess the observed differences in their labour market behaviour. While cross-national variation in labour force participation may be explained by a number of factors, a decomposition of the variation in cross-national labour market participation rates is explored in this study. Initially, a basic model of female labour force participation is presented using data from the Luxembourg Income Study (LIS). The results of the basic model show that the probability of married women participation in the labour market in all three countries is inversely associated with the number of children under the age of 18 years, while higher eductaion and age at younger ages are associated with a higher probability. Two applications of the estimates are presented in the study: a simulation and a decomposition of the variation in cross-national labour force participation. The simulation exercise indicates that variation in cross-national labour force participation rates for married women can be explained by both country-specific characteristics and the measured differences in the responses to those characteristics. The decomposition of the differential in labour force participation into the effect of country-specific characteristics and the effect of responses shows that if the responses of married women in Canada are imposed on the characteristics of Australian women, then participation is higher. On the other hand, if the characteristics for either Canada or the USA are applied to the behavioural responses in Australia, then the labour market partiicipation of married women is also higher. This confirms that differences in country-specific characteristics and responses both contribute to explaining cross-national variation.

Suggested Citation

  • Vera Brusentsev, 2000. "A Decomposition of the Labour Market Participation of Married Women in Three Countries: Australia, Canada and the United States of America," Working Paper Series 106, Finance Discipline Group, UTS Business School, University of Technology, Sydney.
    • Handle: RePEc:uts:wpaper:106
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.finance.uts.edu.au/research/wpapers/wp106.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Willis, Robert J, 1987. "What Have We Learned from the Economics of the Family?," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 77(2), pages 68-81, May.
    2. Leibowitz, A. & Klerman, J.A., 1995. "Explaining Changes in Married Mothers'Employment Over Time," Papers 95-13, RAND - Reprint Series.
    3. Denise J. Doiron & W. Craig Riddell, 1994. "The Impact of Unionization on Male-Female Earnings Differences in Canada," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 29(2), pages 504-534.
    4. Oaxaca, Ronald, 1973. "Male-Female Wage Differentials in Urban Labor Markets," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 14(3), pages 693-709, October.
    5. Browning, Martin, 1992. "Children and Household Economic Behavior," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 30(3), pages 1434-1475, September.
    6. Francine D. Blau, 1998. "Trends in the Well-Being of American Women, 1970-1995," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 36(1), pages 112-165, March.
    7. Mason, Karen Oppenheim & Jensen, An-Magritt (ed.), 1995. "Gender and Family Change in Industrialized Countries," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780198289708.
    8. Gordon Cleveland & Morley Gunderson & Douglas Hyatt, 1996. "Child Care Costs and the Employment Decision of Women: Canadian Evidence," Canadian Journal of Economics, Canadian Economics Association, vol. 29(1), pages 132-151, February.
    9. Juhn, Chinhui & Murphy, Kevin M, 1997. "Wage Inequality and Family Labor Supply," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 15(1), pages 72-97, January.
    10. Heckman, James J, 1993. "What Has Been Learned about Labor Supply in the Past Twenty Years?," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 83(2), pages 116-121, May.
    11. Deaton, Angus & Meullbauer, John, 1981. "Functional Forms for Labor Supply and Commodity Demands with and without Quantity Restrictions," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 49(6), pages 1521-1532, November.
    12. Connelly, Rachel, 1992. "The Effect of Child Care Costs on Married Women's Labor Force Participation," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 74(1), pages 83-90, February.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Ingco, Katrina Nicole & Pilitro, Ver Lyon Yojie, 2016. "Stuck at a Crossroad: A Microeconometric Analysis of Fertility and Married Female Labor Force Supply in the Philippines," MPRA Paper 73351, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    2. Gamar, Alae & Driouchi, Ahmed, 2014. "Higher Education and Inclusion of Women in Labor Markets and in Business Development in Morocco," MPRA Paper 58072, University Library of Munich, Germany.

    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. Michelle Sheran Sylvester, 2007. "The Career and Family Choices of Women: A Dynamic Analysis of Labor Force Participation, Schooling, Marriage and Fertility Decisions," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 10(3), pages 367-399, July.
    2. Colm Harmon & Claire Finn & Arnaud Chevalier & Tarja Viitanen, 2006. "The economics of early childhood care and education : technical research paper for the National Economic and Social Forum," Open Access publications 10197/671, School of Economics, University College Dublin.
    3. Chiuri, Maria Concetta, 2000. "Individual decisions and household demand for consumption and leisure," Research in Economics, Elsevier, vol. 54(3), pages 277-324, September.
    4. Shelly Lundberg & Elaina Rose, 1998. "The Determinants of Specialization Within Marriage," Working Papers 0048, University of Washington, Department of Economics.
    5. Louise Grogan & Katerina Koka, 2010. "Young children and women's labour force participation in Russia, 1992–2004," The Economics of Transition, The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, vol. 18(4), pages 715-739, October.
    6. Machado, Cecilia, 2012. "Selection, Heterogeneity and the Gender Wage Gap," IZA Discussion Papers 7005, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    7. Nicolas Hérault & Guyonne Kalb, 2022. "Understanding the rising trend in female labour force participation," Fiscal Studies, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 43(4), pages 341-363, December.
    8. Sankar Mukhopadhyay, 2012. "The Effects Of The 1978 Pregnancy Discrimination Act On Female Labor Supply," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 53(4), pages 1133-1153, November.
    9. David Gray & Gilles Grenier, 1998. "Jobless Durations of Displaced Workers: A Comparison of Canada and the United States," Canadian Public Policy, University of Toronto Press, vol. 24(s1), pages 152-169, February.
    10. Philip Trostel & Ian Walker, 2006. "Education and Work," Education Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 14(4), pages 377-399.
    11. Geert Dhaene & Koen Jochmans, 2015. "Split-panel Jackknife Estimation of Fixed-effect Models," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 82(3), pages 991-1030.
    12. Avner Ahituv & Marta Tienda, 2004. "Employment, Motherhood, and School Continuation Decisions of Young White, Black, and Hispanic Women," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 22(1), pages 115-158, January.
    13. Eliane El Badaoui & Eleonora Matteazzi, 2014. "To be a Mother, or not to be? Career and Wage Ladder in Italy and the UK," Working Papers hal-04141331, HAL.
    14. Leslie I. Boden & Monica Galizzi, 2003. "Income Losses of Women and Men Injured at Work," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 38(3).
    15. Ina GANGULI & Ricardo HAUSMANN & Martina VIARENGO, 2014. "Closing the gender gap in education: What is the state of gaps in labour force participation for women, wives and mothers?," International Labour Review, International Labour Organization, vol. 153(2), pages 173-207, June.
    16. Angrist, Joshua D & Evans, William N, 1998. "Children and Their Parents' Labor Supply: Evidence from Exogenous Variation in Family Size," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 88(3), pages 450-477, June.
    17. Anna Kurowska & Michal Myck & Katharina Wrohlich, 2012. "Family and Labor Market Choices: Requirements to Guide Effective Evidence-Based Policy," Discussion Papers of DIW Berlin 1234, DIW Berlin, German Institute for Economic Research.
    18. Johar, Meliyanni & Jones, Glenn & Keane, Micheal P. & Savage, Elizabeth & Stavrunova, Olena, 2013. "Discrimination in a universal health system: Explaining socioeconomic waiting time gaps," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 32(1), pages 181-194.
    19. Wannell, Ted & Finnie, Ross, 2004. "The Evolution of the Gender Earnings Gap Amongst Canadian University Graduates," Analytical Studies Branch Research Paper Series 2004235e, Statistics Canada, Analytical Studies Branch.
    20. Hélène Périvier, 2008. "L’impact de la maternité sur l’activité des femmes aux Etats-Unis," Sciences Po publications info:hdl:2441/9882, Sciences Po.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:uts:wpaper:106. 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: Duncan Ford (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/sfutsau.html .

    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.