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Employment’s Role in Enabling and Constraining Marriage in the Middle East and North Africa

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  • Caroline Krafft
  • Ragui Assaad

    (University of Minnesota)

Abstract

This paper makes use of a series of comparable surveys to investigate the role of employment in enabling and constraining marriage for young men and women in Egypt, Jordan and Tunisia. It draws on several key strains of theoretical literature, including the global and regional life course transitions literature and the literature on the economics of marriage, both globally and in the Middle East and North Africa. Three key empirical questions about the role of employment in enabling or constraining marriage are examined: (i) How do different labor market statuses affect the timing and probability of marriage? (ii) How much of the effect of employment statuses on marriage are mediated through different qualities of the job, such as the security and prestige of jobs or earnings and ability to save? and (iii) Does searching for a longer time for a formal job pay off as a strategy for accelerating marriage? Our findings confirm previous research which shows that for men both employment and the quality of that employment matter for the timing of marriage. The effect of public sector employment on raising the hazard of marriage increases after accounting for endogeneity in Egypt and Tunisia. For women, the results suggest that employment is endogenous to the timing of the marriage decision and once endogeneity is taken into account, we find that public sector employment substantially increases the hazard of marriage in all three countries. We also found that, from a perspective of speeding up marriage, it may be worthwhile for young people to remain in the unemployment state longer if that leads to obtaining a higher quality job.

Suggested Citation

  • Caroline Krafft & Ragui Assaad, 2017. "Employment’s Role in Enabling and Constraining Marriage in the Middle East and North Africa," Working Papers 1080, Economic Research Forum, revised 04 Oct 2017.
  • Handle: RePEc:erg:wpaper:1080
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    Cited by:

    1. Krafft Caroline & Assaad Ragui & Rahman Khandker Wahedur, 2021. "Introducing the Egypt Labor Market Panel Survey 2018," IZA Journal of Development and Migration, Sciendo & Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 12(1), pages 1-40, January.
    2. Ragui Assaad & Caroline Krafft & Colette Salemi, 2023. "Socioeconomic Status and the Changing Nature of School-to-Work Transitions in Egypt, Jordan, and Tunisia," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 76(4), pages 697-723, August.
    3. 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.
    4. Caroline Krafft & Ragui Assaad & Ruby Cheung, 2024. "Introducing the Sudan Labor Market Panel Survey 2022," HiCN Working Papers 406, Households in Conflict Network.
    5. Asiimire Donath & Medard Twinamatsiko & Johnson Atwiine & Dr. Nuwatuhaire Benard, 2024. "Women Productive Resource Ownership and their Contribution to the Changing Family Patterns in Ankole Sub-Region, Uganda," International Journal of Research and Scientific Innovation, International Journal of Research and Scientific Innovation (IJRSI), vol. 11(5), pages 844-855, May.
    6. Amr Ragab & Ayhab F. Saad, 2023. "The effects of a negative economic shock on male marriage in the West Bank," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 21(3), pages 789-814, September.
    7. Arnaud Lacheret, 2021. "Femmes, musulmanes, cadres... une intégration à française," Post-Print halshs-03364947, HAL.
    8. Asiimire Donath & Gertrude Fester & Medard Twinamatsiko & Benard Nuwatuhaire, 2021. "Women’s employment and the changing family pattern in Ankole Sub-region- Uganda," International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science, International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science (IJRISS), vol. 5(12), pages 323-335, December.

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