IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gss/journl/v3y2018i3p237-264.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Low Female Labor Force Participation in Pakistan: Causes and Factors

Author

Listed:
  • Zubaria Andlib

    (Ph.D Scholar, School of Economics, Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad, Pakistan.)

  • Aliya H Khan

    (Prof. (R), School of Economics, Faculty of Social Sciences, Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad, Pakistan.)

Abstract

Pakistan has the lowest Female Labour Force Participation (FLFP) rate in the South Asian region. The study has used the latest round of Labor Force Survey 2014-15 and analyzed the individual and household factors that are associated with low FLFP in Pakistan. This study finds that there is less probability for urban women to take part in labor force activities. At national and regional level higher secondary and above levels of education have positive and significant relationship with FLFP whereas the situation is different for the four provinces of Pakistan. In case of Punjab province graduation and above levels of education are positively affiliated with FLFP, in Sind province higher secondary and above levels of education are positively associated with FLFP, in KPK province, matric and above levels of education are positively influencing FLFP decisions and in Baluchistan province primary and above levels of education are positively influencing women's decisions to participate in labor force activities. Women living in joint family systems, non-migrated, recipient of technical or vocational trainings are also more likely to participate in labor force activities. The study provides useful insights for policy makers to formulate appropriate policies to increase FLFP rate in Pakistan.

Suggested Citation

  • Zubaria Andlib & Aliya H Khan, 2018. "Low Female Labor Force Participation in Pakistan: Causes and Factors," Global Social Sciences Review, Humanity Only, vol. 3(3), pages 237-264, September.
  • Handle: RePEc:gss:journl:v:3:y:2018:i:3:p:237-264
    DOI: 10.31703/gssr.2018(III-III).14
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://gssrjournal.com/jadmin/Auther/31rvIolA2LALJouq9hkR/GxW8ilomxR.pdf
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: http://www.gssrjournal.com/issue/Low-Female-Labor-Force-Participation-in-Pakistan-Causes-and-Factors
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.31703/gssr.2018(III-III).14?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
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Bhalla, Surjit & Kaur, Ravinder, 2011. "Labour force participation of women in India: some facts, some queries," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 38367, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    2. Becker, Gary S., 1971. "The Economics of Discrimination," University of Chicago Press Economics Books, University of Chicago Press, edition 2, number 9780226041162.
    3. Huzeyfe Torun & Semih Tumen, 2019. "Do vocational high school graduates have better employment outcomes than general high school graduates?," International Journal of Manpower, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 40(8), pages 1364-1388, August.
    4. repec:bla:econom:v:63:y:1996:i:250:p:s29-62 is not listed on IDEAS
    5. Pignatti, Norberto & Torosyan, Karine & Chitanava, Maka, 2016. "Toothless Reforms? The Remarkable Stability of Female Labor Force Participation in a Top-Reforming Country," IZA Discussion Papers 10440, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    6. Lee, Bun Song & Jang, Soomyung & Sarkar, Jayanta, 2008. "Women's labor force participation and marriage: The case of Korea," Journal of Asian Economics, Elsevier, vol. 19(2), pages 138-154, April.
    7. Fuchs, Johann & Kubis, Alexander & Schneider, Lutz, 2016. "Replacement migration from a labour market perspective : Germany's long-term potential labour force and immigration from non-EU member countries," IAB-Discussion Paper 201604, Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany].
    8. Stephan Klasen & Janneke Pieters, 2015. "What Explains the Stagnation of Female Labor Force Participation in Urban India?," The World Bank Economic Review, World Bank, vol. 29(3), pages 449-478.
    9. Sanghamitra Kanjilal-Bhaduri & Francesco Pastore, 2018. "Returns to Education and Female Participation Nexus: Evidence from India," The Indian Journal of Labour Economics, Springer;The Indian Society of Labour Economics (ISLE), vol. 61(3), pages 515-536, September.
    10. Muhammad Zahir Faridi & Ayesha Rashid, 2014. "The Correlates of Educated Women’s Labor Force Participation in Pakistan: A Micro-Study," Lahore Journal of Economics, Department of Economics, The Lahore School of Economics, vol. 19(2), pages 155-184, July-Dec.
    11. Zareen F. Naqvi & Lubna Shahnaz, 2002. "How Do Women Decide to Work in Pakistan?," The Pakistan Development Review, Pakistan Institute of Development Economics, vol. 41(4), pages 495-513.
    12. Arango Luis E. & Carlos E. Posada, 2007. "Labor Participation of Married Women in Colombia," Revista Desarrollo y Sociedad, Universidad de los Andes,Facultad de Economía, CEDE.
    13. Karao?lan, Deniz & Okten, Cagla, 2012. "Labor Force Participation of Married Women in Turkey: Is There an Added or a Discouraged Worker Effect?," IZA Discussion Papers 6616, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    14. Sarah Bridges & David Lawson & Sharifa Begum, 2011. "Labour Market Outcomes in Bangladesh: The Role of Poverty and Gender Norms," The European Journal of Development Research, Palgrave Macmillan;European Association of Development Research and Training Institutes (EADI), vol. 23(3), pages 459-487, July.
    15. Toseef Azid & Rana Ejaz Ali Khan & Adnan M.S. Alamasi, 2010. "Labor force participation of married women in Punjab (Pakistan)," International Journal of Social Economics, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 37(8), pages 592-612, July.
    16. Katharine L. Bradbury & Jane Katz, 2005. "Women's rise: a work in progress," Regional Review, Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, issue Q 1, pages 58-67.
    17. Muhammad Sabir & Zehra Aftab, 2007. "Dynamism in the Gender Wage Gap: Evidence from Pakistan," The Pakistan Development Review, Pakistan Institute of Development Economics, vol. 46(4), pages 865-882.
    18. Xiaobo He & Rong Zhu, 2016. "Fertility and Female Labour Force Participation: Causal Evidence from Urban China," Manchester School, University of Manchester, vol. 84(5), pages 664-674, September.
    19. Papps, Kerry L., 2010. "Female Labour Supply and Spousal Education," IZA Discussion Papers 5348, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    20. Mustafa Kemal, Bicerli & Naci, Gundogan, 2009. "Female Labor Force Participation in Urbanization Process: The Case of Turkey," MPRA Paper 18249, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    21. Mehak Ejaz, 2007. "Determinants of Female Labor Force Participation in Pakistan An Empirical Analysis of PSLM (2004-05) Micro Data," Lahore Journal of Economics, Department of Economics, The Lahore School of Economics, vol. 12(Special E), pages 204-235, September.
    22. Luis Eduardo Arango & Carlos Esteban Posada, 2005. "Labor Participation of Married Women in Colombia," Borradores de Economia 3103, Banco de la Republica.
    23. Arango Luis E. & Carlos E. Posada, 2007. "Labor Participation of Married Women in Colombia," Revista Desarrollo y Sociedad, Universidad de los Andes,Facultad de Economía, CEDE.
    24. Evans Jadotte, 2009. "International Migration, Remittances and Labour Supply: The Case of the Republic of Haiti," WIDER Working Paper Series RP2009-28, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    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. Andlib, Zubaria, 2025. "Can occupational skills explain the gender wage gap in a developing economy? An unconditional quintile regression approach," GLO Discussion Paper Series 1555, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    2. Nadeem Ul Haque & Faheem Jehangir Khan (ed.), 2022. "RASTA Local Research, Local Solutions: Social Sector Development, Volume IV," PIDE Books, Pakistan Institute of Development Economics, number 2022:8.
    3. Adnan Bashir & Zahid Siddique, 2023. "Appraising the lifetime private economic returns of postgraduate degrees: Evidence from Pakistan," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 10(1), pages 1-13, December.
    4. Mudassira Sarfraz & Zubaria Andlib & Muhammad Kamran & Noor Ullah Khan & Hanieh Alipour Bazkiaei, 2021. "Pathways towards Women Empowerment and Determinants of Decent Work Deficit: A South Asian Perspective," Administrative Sciences, MDPI, vol. 11(3), pages 1-18, August.
    5. Muhammad Zaheer Khan & Rusmawati Said & Nur Syazwani Mazlan & Norashidah Mohamed Nor, 2023. "Measuring the occupational segregation of males and females in Pakistan in a multigroup context," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 10(1), pages 1-11, December.
    6. Nuray Akar & Tayfun Yörük & Ömür Tosun, 2024. "Predicting women’s career decisiveness in the ICT sector: A serial multiple mediation model among MIS students," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 19(12), pages 1-26, December.
    7. Andlib, Zubaria, 2025. "Breaking Barriers or Reinforcing Gaps? Gender Wage Disparities Across Skill Levels in a Developing Economy," GLO Discussion Paper Series 1555 [rev.], Global Labor Organization (GLO), revised 2025.
    8. Lingjun Guo & Wenyu Tan, 2024. "Relationship between green credit and high-quality development of green and green economy—"pull effect" or "capricorn effect"," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 26(10), pages 26449-26473, October.

    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. Mudassira Sarfraz & Zubaria Andlib & Muhammad Kamran & Noor Ullah Khan & Hanieh Alipour Bazkiaei, 2021. "Pathways towards Women Empowerment and Determinants of Decent Work Deficit: A South Asian Perspective," Administrative Sciences, MDPI, vol. 11(3), pages 1-18, August.
    2. Hanan Nazier & Racha Ramadan, 2016. "Women's Participation in Labor Market in Egypt: Constraints and Opportunities," Working Papers 999, Economic Research Forum, revised May 2016.
    3. Chaudhary, Ruchika. & Verick, Sher., 2014. "Female labour force participation in India and beyond," ILO Working Papers 994867893402676, International Labour Organization.
    4. Jhon James Mora & Juan Muro, 2014. "Informality and minimum wages by cohort in Colombia," Revista Cuadernos de Economia, Universidad Nacional de Colombia, FCE, CID.
    5. Iregui-Bohórquez, Ana María & Melo-Becerra, Ligia Alba & Ramírez-Giraldo, María Teresa & Tribín-Uribe, Ana María & Zárate-Solano, Héctor M., 2024. "Unraveling the factors behind women’s empowerment in the labor market in Colombia," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 183(C).
    6. Julio E. Romero Prieto, 2018. "La maternidad y el empleo formal en Colombia," Documentos de Trabajo Sobre Economía Regional y Urbana 16328, Banco de la República, Economía Regional.
    7. Adriana Carolina Silva Arias & Patricia Gonzalez Román, 2007. "Una revisión a la composición y transición demográfica," Revista Facultad de Ciencias Económicas, Universidad Militar Nueva Granada.
    8. Ximena Pena & Raquel Bernal & Diego Amador, 2013. "The rise in female participation in Colombia: Fertility, marital status or education?," Revista ESPE - Ensayos Sobre Política Económica, Banco de la República, vol. 31(71), pages 54-63.
    9. Ana María Iregui-Bohórquez & Ligia Alba Melo-Becerra & María Teresa Ramírez-Giraldo, 2015. "Estado de salud y participación laboral: Evidencia para Colombia," Borradores de Economia 851, Banco de la Republica de Colombia.
    10. Gabriela Ram√≠rez Mart√≠nez, 2025. "Taking Care of those who take Care of Us: What if a Manzana del Cuidado Was Just Around the Corner?," Documentos CEDE 21341, Universidad de los Andes, Facultad de Economía, CEDE.
    11. Ana María Iregui-Bohórquez & Ligia Alba Melo-Becerra & María Teresa Ramírez-Giraldo, 2016. "Health status and labor force participation: evidence for urban low and middle income individuals in Colombia," Portuguese Economic Journal, Springer;Instituto Superior de Economia e Gestao, vol. 15(1), pages 33-55, April.
    12. Seneviratne, Prathi, 2020. "Gender wage inequality during Sri Lanka’s post-reform growth: A distributional analysis," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 129(C).
    13. Josh Ederington & Jenny Minier & Kenneth R. Troske, 2024. "Trade and labor market segregation in Colombia," Review of International Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 32(4), pages 1645-1670, September.
    14. Ali Fakih & Pascal Ghazalian, 2015. "Female employment in MENA’s manufacturing sector: the implications of firm-related and national factors," Economic Change and Restructuring, Springer, vol. 48(1), pages 37-69, February.
    15. Adolfo Meisel-Roca & Hernando Vargas-Herrera (ed.), 2018. "Ensayos sobre crecimiento económico en Colombia," Books, Banco de la Republica de Colombia, number 2018-06, November.
    16. repec:ilo:ilowps:486789 is not listed on IDEAS
    17. Independent Evaluation Group, 2009. "Earnings Growth and Employment Creation," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 24116, April.
    18. Ana Mar�a Iregui-Boh�rquez & Ligia Alba Melo-Becerra & Mar�a Teresa Ram�rez-Giraldo, 2015. "Estado de salud y participaci�n laboral: Evidencia para Colombia," Borradores de Economia 12497, Banco de la Republica.
    19. Sana Khalil, "undated". "Structures of constraint and women’s paid work in Pakistan," Review of Socio - Economic Perspectives 202186, Reviewsep.
    20. Mora, J.J., 2013. "Gender differences between remittances and labor participation in developing countries: A cross-section analysis of Colombia in year 2008," Applied Econometrics and International Development, Euro-American Association of Economic Development, vol. 13(1), pages 99-112.
    21. María Teresa Ripoll, 2015. "[Ensayo] Género e historia empresarial en Colombia: Un balance bibliográfico, 1980 - 2013," Revista Economía y Región, Universidad Tecnológica de Bolívar, vol. 9(2), pages 201-219.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;

    JEL classification:

    • R00 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - General - - - General
    • Z0 - Other Special Topics - - General

    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:gss:journl:v:3:y:2018:i:3:p:237-264. 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: M Imran Khan The email address of this maintainer does not seem to be valid anymore. Please ask M Imran Khan to update the entry or send us the correct address (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.humanityonly.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.