Does Vocational Training Promote Female Labour Force Participation? An Analysis for India

2021 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 149-173
Author(s):  
Indrajit Bairagya ◽  
Tulika Bhattacharya ◽  
Pragati Tiwari

The objective of the article is to assess the impact of formal and informal vocational training on female labour force participation in India, based on the Periodic Labour Force Survey data for 2017–2018, employing a trivariate probit model. Results show that participation both in formal and informal vocational training has a positive and statistically significant impact on female labour force participation across all specifications of the regression models, thus showing the robustness of the relationship. Most importantly, the provision of vocational training helps break the traditional U-shaped relationship between female labour force participation and educational levels. However, the fact that the percentage of formal vocational training holders is much lower than that of informal vocational training holders and that it varies among males and females, points to the need for special policy attention on the promotion of female participation in formal vocational training on a large scale. JEL Codes: J21, J24, J71

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dorian Tsolak ◽  
Marvin Bürmann ◽  
Martin Kroh

Objective: This article studies the intergenerational stability of employment in families of immigrants cross-nationally by investigating to what extent contextual differences between sending and receiving countries affect the transmission of labour force participation from mothers to daughters. Background: It is often argued that a low level of labour force participation among female immigrants reflects gender norms inherited from the sending country, or, alternatively, that it is indicative of obstacles to social mobility in the receiving country. We seek to add to the existing research on this topic by providing evidence of differences between sending and receiving countries that systematically affect the labour market behaviour of female immigrants. Method: We use individual-level data from the European Social Survey (ESS) for 35 receiving countries for a 14-year period (2004-2018) in combination with contextual data for 172 sending countries from 1960 to 2018. First, we provide an overview of employment rates and intergenerational employment stability for different combinations of sending and receiving contexts with respect to the labour force participation rates of female immigrants. Second, we corroborate our descriptive findings with multilevel models. Results: Our paper shows that there are changes in the levels of intergenerational employment stability among immigrants depending on the differences in the female labour force participation rates between the sending and the receiving countries. We find that when women migrate from countries with low female labour force participation rates to countries with high female labour force participation rates, their probability of participating in the labour force increases. However, we also find that the levels of intergenerational employment stability in this group are high. Conclusion: Intergenerational employment stability seems to be responsive to contextual differences between sending and receiving countries. We observe the highest levels of intergenerational stability in employment between mothers and daughters in families who migrated from countries with low female labour force participation rates to countries with high female labour force participation rates.


2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 259-271
Author(s):  
Khai Ying Eng ◽  
Chee-Hong Law ◽  
Yiing Jia Loke

This paper examines the relationship between financial access and economic empowerment among females, i.e., female labour force participation by testing a panel data of 51 countries ranging from 2004 to 2016. The number of bank branches and automated teller machines, both in thousand square feet and a hundred thousand adults, are applied as financial access indicators. The estimation method employed is the dynamic panel system generalized method of moment estimators. The control variables in the equation are the life expectancy, gross domestic product per capita, and female education enrolment. The results showed that bank branches have more noticeable impacts than automated teller machines in affecting the female labour force participation rate, implying that bank branches' services have a more substantial influence on women empowerment than automated teller machines. Furthermore, financial access indicators show a negative association with female labour force participation, probably due to female discrimination in financial access or the income effect caused by better financial access. Another possible reason is that the development policies could have bypassed women, as indicated by previous studies. To overcome this situation, governments could improve their financial service to ensure that financial access benefits women empowerment, including exploring the microfinance and special loans for female borrowers.


Author(s):  
Syeda Anam Hassan ◽  
Nazish Rafaz

Education is an essential factor of economic growth and a fundamental right of every person. No country can attain sustainable economic growth without substantial investment in education. Education improves technical capabilities of exploring new ideas and innovations. It improves the quality of life and leads to collective benefits to individuals and societies. In this study, we investigate the impact of female education on the economic growth of Pakistan by adopting the methodology of the simple Ordinary Least Squares regression with time spanning from 1990 to 2016. OLS regression results show that 1% increase in female education, female labour force participation, education expenditure and fertility rate causes 96% increase in GDP of Pakistan. Female education has a significant and positive impact on economic growth. Female education has a positive relationship with female labour force participation rate. The female labour force is dramatically increasing the economic growth. The policy recommendation is that government should allocate more of its budget on education and make efforts for improvement of the quality of education at different levels. The fertility rate has a negative relationship with female education and economic growth. Female education can reduce fertility rate and play a magnificent role in economic growth of Pakistan.


2020 ◽  
Vol 19 (3) ◽  
pp. 303-322
Author(s):  
Harpal Sangha ◽  
Robert Riegler

Purpose This study aims to analyse whether globalisation, i.e. informational and economic globalisation, promoted or impeded female labour force participation (FLFP) in South Asia. Design/methodology/approach The KOF Globalisation Index is used alongside a fixed effect panel data Discroll–Kraay estimator to control for unobserved factors and achieve robust standard errors. The sample covers all South Asian countries for the period 1999–2015. Findings Globalisation does not advocate the “feminisation of employment”; in fact, the impact is negative. This is driven by the economic dimension of globalisation, particularly for younger women. However, this impact is mitigated by informational globalisation that affects FLFP positively, especially for women aged 35 years and older. Practical implications Without support of the right governmental policies, there is a danger of globalisation creating new obstacles for women to enter the labour market. Originality/value This paper adds to the existing literature by using the more comprehensive KOF globalisation measure to identify the overall effect of globalisation on FLFP in South Asia, being the first study to analyse the impact of informational alongside economic globalisation, and investigating whether globalisation affects the labour force participation rate of various female age cohorts differently.


2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 15-31
Author(s):  
Folorunsho M. Ajide

Abstract Research purpose: This study investigates the impact of financial inclusion on female labour force participation in Africa. It also complements the existing studies by evaluating how advancement in information and communication technology (ICT) and Trade openness (TO) modulate the relationship between financial inclusion and female economic participation in selected African countries. Design/methodology/approach: The study focuses on twelve African countries while the empirical evidence is based on Fixed Effects, Random Effects and Generalised Least Square estimators (GLS). Data over the period of 2005-2016 are sourced from the World Bank Development database and IMF international Financial Statistics. Findings: The results show that financial inclusion has a non-monotonic relationship with female labour force participation. The study establishes that if the level of financial inclusion can be increased to the range of 33-57 per cent, it would improve the level of women participation in economic activities. The results further show that ICT moderates the nexus between financial inclusion and female economic participation at a threshold level of 38.17 per cent. These findings persist when the TO is used as the moderating factor at a threshold value of 80.90 per cent. The results are robust enough to suggest an alternative proxy for female labour force participation and alternative estimation techniques. Originality/value/practical implications: Ending gender inequality has become one of the priorities in the global development policies in which most African nations domesticate the same for their national planning. There are voices at every corner in Africa demanding the possibility of achieving gender equality in employment, among others. This article is one of the few articles that evaluate whether financial inclusion can be used to accelerate female economic participation in Africa.


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