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Labor Shortages Despite Underemployment? Seasonality in Time Use in Malawi

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  • Wodon, Quentin
  • Beegle, Kathleen

Abstract

Evidence for Malawi and other developing countries suggests the existence of labor shortages at the peak of the cropping season, with negative impacts on the ability of households to make the most of their endowments such as land. At the same time, for most of the year, there is substantial underemployment, especially in rural areas. It could therefore be argued that seasonality in the demand for labor is leading to both underemployment and labor shortages. This paper provides basic descriptive data from a 2004 nationally representative household survey to assess the typical workload of the population. The data confirm the presence of strong seasonality effects in the supply of labor, as well as substantial differences in workload between men and women due to the burden of domestic work, including the time spent for collecting water and wood.

Suggested Citation

  • Wodon, Quentin & Beegle, Kathleen, 2006. "Labor Shortages Despite Underemployment? Seasonality in Time Use in Malawi," MPRA Paper 11083, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    • Handle: RePEc:pra:mprapa:11083
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Quentin Wodon & Elena Bardasi, 2006. "Measuring Time Poverty and Analyzing its Determinants: Concepts and Application to Guinea," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 10(12), pages 1-7.
    2. repec:ebl:ecbull:v:10:y:2006:i:12:p:1-7 is not listed on IDEAS
    3. Brummett, R.E., 2002. "Seasonality, labor and integration of aquaculture into southern African smallhold farming systems," Naga, The WorldFish Center, vol. 25(1), pages 23-27.
    4. Beegle, Kathleen, 2005. "Labor Effects of Adult Mortality in Tanzanian Households," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 53(3), pages 655-683, April.
    5. Frank Ellis, 2000. "The Determinants of Rural Livelihood Diversification in Developing Countries," Journal of Agricultural Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 51(2), pages 289-302, May.
    6. M. M. Pitt & S. R. Khandker, 2002. "Credit Programmes for the Poor and Seasonality in Rural Bangladesh," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 39(2), pages 1-24.
    7. Sunil Kanwar, 2004. "Seasonality and Wage Responsiveness in a Developing Agrarian Economy," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 66(2), pages 189-204, May.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Richard Anker & Martha Anker, 2014. "Living Wage Benchmark Report: Rural Southern Malawi (January 2014)," Global Living Wage Coalition (GLWC) 14-01-01, Universidad Privada Boliviana.
    2. Channing Arndt & Karl Pauw & James Thurlow, 2016. "The Economy-wide Impacts and Risks of Malawi's Farm Input Subsidy Program," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 98(3), pages 962-980.
    3. Pierotti, Rachael S. & Friedson-Ridenour, Sophia & Olayiwola, Olubukola, 2022. "Women farm what they can manage: How time constraints affect the quantity and quality of labor for married women’s agricultural production in southwestern Nigeria," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 152(C).
    4. Johnston, Deborah & Stevano, Sara & Malapit, Hazel J. & Hull, Elizabeth & Kadiyala, Suneetha, 2015. "Agriculture, gendered time use, and nutritional outcomes: A systematic review," IFPRI discussion papers 1456, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    5. Quentin Wodon & Elena Bardasi, 2006. "Measuring Time Poverty and Analyzing its Determinants: Concepts and Application to Guinea," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 10(12), pages 1-7.
    6. Elena Bardasi & Quentin Wodon, 2010. "Working Long Hours and Having No Choice: Time Poverty in Guinea," Feminist Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 16(3), pages 45-78.
    7. Bardasi, Elena & Wodon, Quentin, 2006. "Poverty Reduction from Full Employment: A Time Use Approach," MPRA Paper 11084, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    8. Johnston, Deborah & Stevano, Sara & Malapit, Hazel J. & Hull, Elizabeth & Kadiyala, Suneetha, 2018. "Review: Time Use as an Explanation for the Agri-Nutrition Disconnect: Evidence from Rural Areas in Low and Middle-Income Countries," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 76(C), pages 8-18.
    9. Yuta Masuda & Lea Fortmann & Mary Gugerty & Marla Smith-Nilson & Joseph Cook, 2014. "Pictorial Approaches for Measuring Time Use in Rural Ethiopia," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 115(1), pages 467-482, January.
    10. David Lawson, 2008. "Infrastructure And Time Poverty In Lesotho," South African Journal of Economics, Economic Society of South Africa, vol. 76(1), pages 77-88, March.
    11. Wodon, Quentin & Ying, Yvonne, 2010. "Domestic Work Time in Sierra Leone," MPRA Paper 27736, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    12. Bryceson, Deborah Fahy, 2019. "Gender and generational patterns of African deagrarianization: Evolving labour and land allocation in smallholder peasant household farming, 1980–2015," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 113(C), pages 60-72.
    13. Adane Tufa & Arega Alene & Hambulo Ngoma & Paswel Marenya & Julius Manda & Md Abdul Matin & Christian Thierfelder & David Chikoye, 2024. "Willingness to pay for agricultural mechanization services by smallholder farmers in Malawi," Agribusiness, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 40(1), pages 248-276, January.
    14. repec:ilo:ilowps:461444 is not listed on IDEAS
    15. Channing Arndt & Karl Pauw & James Thurlow, 2016. "The Economy-wide Impacts and Risks of Malawi's Farm Input Subsidy Program," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 98(3), pages 962-980.
    16. de Janvry, Alain & Duquennois, Claire & Sadoulet, Elisabeth, 2022. "Labor calendars and rural poverty: A case study for Malawi," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 109(C).
    17. Undp, 2011. "HDR 2011 - Sustainability and Equity: A Better Future for All," Human Development Report (1990 to present), Human Development Report Office (HDRO), United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), number hdr2011, September.
    18. Skjeflo , Sofie Waage & Holden , Stein, 2014. "Economy-wide effects of input subsidies in Malawi: Market imperfections and household heterogeneity," CLTS Working Papers 7/14, Norwegian University of Life Sciences, Centre for Land Tenure Studies, revised 10 Oct 2019.
    19. repec:aia:aiaswp:wp82 is not listed on IDEAS
    20. Swaminathan, Hema & Salcedo Du Bois, Rodrigo & Findeis, Jill L., 2010. "Impact of Access to Credit on Labor Allocation Patterns in Malawi," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 38(4), pages 555-566, April.
    21. Sara Stevano & Suneetha Kadiyala & Deborah Johnston & Hazel Malapit & Elizabeth Hull & Sofia Kalamatianou, 2019. "Time-Use Analytics: An Improved Way of Understanding Gendered Agriculture-Nutrition Pathways," Feminist Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 25(3), pages 1-22, July.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Time use; labor supply; poverty; intrahousehold allocation; seasonality;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J22 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Time Allocation and Labor Supply
    • I32 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - Measurement and Analysis of Poverty
    • J16 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination

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