scholarly journals The Changing Spousal Differentials in Socio-demographic Characteristics in Malaysia

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 121-151
Author(s):  
Nai Peng Tey

This paper uses matched couple data from the 1991, 2000, and 2010 population censuses to examine the changes in spousal differentials in age, education, and work status, as well as inter-ethnic and international marriages. The general trend is one of decreasing spousal age and educational gaps between 1991 and 2010. Although older-man younger-woman marriages still predominated, the spousal age gap decreased from 4.6 years to 3.9 years, and the proportion of marriages in which the husband was more than 6 years older than the wife declined from 30% to 24%. Educational homogamy (couples having the same educational level) rose from 53% to 64%, while the proportion of women marrying someone of higher education declined from 33% to 21%. Inter-ethnic marriage hovered around 4.2% throughout the study period, after rising from less than 1% in the 1980s. International marriages made up about 1.2% of all marriages in 2010, up from 0.8% in 1991. The labour force participation rate of married women had increased significantly, resulting in the rise of dual-income households. The changing spousal differentials in socio-demographic characteristics are bound to alter gender roles and relations that will impact Malaysia’s family institution and demographic outcomes.

Author(s):  
G. Samba Siva ◽  
D. S. Gupta

Socio demographic data of Comprehensive Scheme for study on Cost of cultivation of Principal Crops (CCPC) has been utilized in the present study to identify the distribution of social, economic and demographic characteristics of farm households among different agro climatic zones of West Bengal. The demographic study observed that majority farmers in the study area are small farmers (43.83%) with an average land holding size of 1.5 hectares and have crop production as a major occupation. The households in this study are medium sized families (4 to 6 members). The educational status of households revealed that 80.70% were literates and only 19.30% were illiterates. Majority of them have secondary level of education and minimum of two members earn money for their family. The annual family income of farm households revealed that 50.67% farm households annual income range falls below Rs. 24,000 per annum, and they were considered as living under the poverty line. The average labour force participation rate in West Bengal is 67%. Chi square test revealed that the distribution of these characteristics viz. land holding size (= 32.55; P < .01), farmers’ education (= 46.22; P < .01), farm household education (= 58.42; P < .01), farmers’ age (= 39.94; P < .01), dependency status (= 30.05; P < .01), labour force participation rate (= 17.69; P = .05), farmers occupation (= 27.63; P = .05) and annual net family income (= 35.33; P = .05) found significant and independent among the different agro-climatic zones of West Bengal. It is concluded that the significant socioeconomic and demographic characteristics are crucial as it gives insight into the influence of capital and education on the household economic status. We recommended that the constructive plans should be formulated to take advantage of these aspects, which could positively alter the economic conditions of the farming community.


2005 ◽  
Vol 54 (4) ◽  
pp. 673-693 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jacob (Yaacov) Weisberg ◽  
Noah M. Meltz

In industrialized economics, unemployment rates are inversely related to education levels. Data from 1963 to 1994 show that Israël is an anomaly exhibiting an inverted U-shaped relationship. Workers with 9-12 years of schooling consistently experienced a higher level of unemployment than the schooling groups with less and more education. Multivariate regression analysis of data for Israël during the 1976-1994 period indicates that this inverted U-shaped relationship is moderating. The national unemployment rate and a time trend variable had positive and significant effects tending to strengthen the inverted U-shaped relationship. However, an increase in the unemployment rate within the 0-8 education group relative to the 9-12 group and a decline in the labour force participation rate of the 0-8 group overrode these factors, resulting in a flattening of the inverse relationship. The major factor responsible for the anomaly in the education-unemployment relationship in Israël appears to be government policies intended to protect low-educated immigrants with large familles. A reduction in government support over recent years seems to have increased the exposure of the least educated to labour market forces.


Author(s):  
Prakash Kengnal ◽  
Asha Bullappa

Background: The empirical work on fertility determinants widely discusses the role of socio-economic factors like female labour force participation rate, urban population and per capita gross national income in determining fertility rates. The India’s high fertility rate began to decline gradually after late 1950s and continued to fall since then. India achieved almost 31 per cent decline in fertility rate from 1990 to 2012. The objective was to examine the relationship between fertility rate, urbanization, female labour force participation rate and per capita gross national income for India.Methods: This study covers the sample period from 1990-2012. Moreover, the direction of causality between fertility rate, urbanization, female labour force participation rate and per capita gross national income in India using Granger Causality test within the Vector Error-Correction Model (VECM) are examined.Results: As a summary of the empirical results, we found that fertility rate, urbanization, female labour force participation rate and per capita gross national income in India are co-integrated and there is unidirectional Granger Causality between the four variables in long and short-run.Conclusions: The growth in urban population, female labour force participation rate and per capita gross national income are responsible for the decrease in fertility rate in India.


2020 ◽  
Vol 62 (3) ◽  
pp. 341-364 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elisa Birch ◽  
Alison Preston

1 This article provides an overview of the key features of the labour market in 2019, with historical data providing insight into recent trends. In 2019, the female labour force participation rate reached an all-time high of 61.3%, 10 percentage points lower than the male rate. Disaggregated analysis shows this growth stems from rising participation amongst older women. This, in turn, is underpinned by a growth in feminised sectors of the labour market, notably the Health Care and Social Assistance sector. Since 2000 this sector has contributed 22.6% to total employment growth and at 2019 accounted for 13.5% of the Australian workforce. There has also been a growth in part-time and casual employment over recent years, with the latter now accounting for 25% of all employees. These are concerning developments, with estimates showing that 58.6% of casuals are not guaranteed a minimum number of hours of work in their job. The article notes that wages growth remains below that required to stimulate employment growth, and that a continued focus on conventional labour market indicators has the potential to lead to misguided policy formulation.


2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 202-228
Author(s):  
Suresh Chand Aggarwal ◽  
Bishwanath Goldar

Purpose This study aims to analyze the structure and trend in employment in the Indian economy between 1980-8081 and 2015-2016. Design/methodology/approach Use of India KLEMS data set. Estimate growth rate of employment and discuss employment prospects using “Point” employment elasticity. Findings Whilst India’s GDP growth rate has been quite impressive since the reforms of 1991, the rate of employment growth, especially in the recent period of 2003-2015, has been quite slow (1 per cent) with low employment elasticity (0.1). The pattern of employment growth has also been imbalanced with slow rate of employment growth in manufacturing and rapid growth rate in the construction sector. India now also has low labour force participation rate and a large share of informal employment in the economy. Research limitations/implications The limitation is the lack of reliable data on employment for the recent period. Practical implications With overall low employment elasticity, India would have to explore sectors where more employment opportunities could be created. Social implications India has to create not only more jobs but also “good” jobs. Originality/value The India KLEMS data provide a time series for employment, which has been used in this paper to find “Point” elasticity instead of arc elasticity of employment and is an improvement over existing employment elasticity estimates.


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