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Women at Work in the United States since 1860: An Analysis of Unreported Family Workers

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  • Chiswick, Barry R.

    (George Washington University)

  • Robinson, RaeAnn Halenda

    (George Washington University)

Abstract

Estimated labor force participation rates among free women in the pre-Civil War period were exceedingly low. This is due, in part, to cultural or societal expectations of the role of women and the lack of thorough enumeration by Census takers. This paper develops an augmented labor force participation rate for free women in 1860 and compares it with the augmented rate for 1920 and today. Our methodology identifies women who are likely providing informal and unenumerated labor for market production in support of a family business, that is, unreported family workers. These individuals are not coded in the original data as formally working, but are likely to be engaged in the labor force on the basis of the self- employment of other relatives in their household. Unreported family workers are classified into four categories: farm, merchant, craft, and boardinghouse keepers. Using microdata, the inclusion of these workers more than triples the free female labor force participation rate in the 1860 Census from 16 percent to 57 percent, more than doubles the participation rate in the 1920 Census from 24 percent to 50 percent, and has a trivial effect on the currently measured rate of 56 percent (2015-2019 American Community Survey). This suggests that rather than a steep rise from a very low level in the female labor force participation rate since 1860, it has in fact always been high and fairly stable over time. In contrast, the effect of including unreported family workers in the male augmented labor force participation rate is relatively small.

Suggested Citation

  • Chiswick, Barry R. & Robinson, RaeAnn Halenda, 2021. "Women at Work in the United States since 1860: An Analysis of Unreported Family Workers," IZA Discussion Papers 14449, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
  • Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp14449
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    Cited by:

    1. Chiswick, Barry R. & Robinson, RaeAnn Halenda, 2021. "Women at Work in the United States Since 1860: An Analysis of Unreported Family Workers," GLO Discussion Paper Series 857, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    2. Chiswick, Barry R. & Robinson, RaeAnn Halenda, 2021. "Women at work in the United States since 1860: An analysis of unreported family workers," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 82(C).
    3. Chiswick, Barry R. & Robinson, RaeAnn H., 2022. "The Occupations of Free Women and Substitution with Enslaved Workers in the Antebellum United States," GLO Discussion Paper Series 1063, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    4. Albers, Thilo N.H. & Kappner, Kalle, 2023. "Perks and pitfalls of city directories as a micro-geographic data source," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 87(C).
    5. Youssouf Merouani & Faustine Perrin, 2022. "Gender and the long-run development process. A survey of the literature [Rethinking age heaping: A cautionary tale from nineteenth-century Italy]," European Review of Economic History, Oxford University Press, vol. 26(4), pages 612-641.
    6. Albers, Thilo N. H. & Kappner, Kalle, 2022. "Perks and Pitfalls of City Directories as a Micro-Geographic Data Source," Rationality and Competition Discussion Paper Series 315, CRC TRR 190 Rationality and Competition.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    women; labor force participation; unreported family workers; occupational status; unpaid workers; self-employment; 1860 Census; 1920 Census; American Community Survey;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • N31 - Economic History - - Labor and Consumers, Demography, Education, Health, Welfare, Income, Wealth, Religion, and Philanthropy - - - U.S.; Canada: Pre-1913
    • J16 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination
    • J21 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Labor Force and Employment, Size, and Structure
    • J82 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Labor Standards - - - Labor Force Composition

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