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Cities and the Rise of Working Women

Author

Listed:
  • Berger, Thor

    (Swedish Collegium for Advanced Study (SCAS),)

  • Karadja, Mounir

    (Department of Economics, Uppsala University)

  • Prawitz, Erik

    (Department of Economics and Statistics, Linnaeus University)

Abstract

We document that large cities were instrumental in shaping women’s work and family outcomes in the early 20th century. We focus on migrants to Stockholm, Sweden’s largest city, using representative, linked census data. Female migrants to Stockholm saw persistent changes in work and family outcomes over the life-cycle. Migrants were approximately 50 percentage points more likely to enter the labor force and less likely to marry or have children than their sisters migrating to rural areas. They experienced skill-upgrading and higher real incomes, without adverse mortality effects. Early structural shifts towards services partly explain these patterns.

Suggested Citation

  • Berger, Thor & Karadja, Mounir & Prawitz, Erik, 2025. "Cities and the Rise of Working Women," Working Paper Series 1516, Research Institute of Industrial Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:hhs:iuiwop:1516
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Female labor force participation; Migration; Urbanization; Economic history;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I15 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health and Economic Development
    • N93 - Economic History - - Regional and Urban History - - - Europe: Pre-1913
    • Q25 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Renewable Resources and Conservation - - - Water

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