Analyzing the effect of household income on female labor force participation in the context of educational attainment, marital status, and urbanization
Date
2023-06-27
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Abstract
The study investigates the relationship between Female Labor Force
Participation (FLFP) and household income (HI) and examines how this relationship
varies with educational attainment, marital status, and urbanization. The main
hypothesis is that while a negative relationship exists between HI and FLFP, the
magnitude, direction, and/or other dimensions of this relationship are affected by a
woman's marital status, educational attainment, and urbanization. To test this
hypothesis, the study estimates five distinct binomial probit models to test the
inclusion of variables of interest and their interaction terms with total household
income in relation to FLFP, using the most recent 2018 merged data from the Labor
Force Survey (LFS) and Family Income and Expenditure Survey (FIES). It is found
that without the inclusion of education, marital status, and urbanization, the
probability of women joining the labor force increases with household income but at
a decreasing rate. Meanwhile, when education is taken into account, the impact of
household income on female labor force participation (FLFP) is entirely negative.
However, in this model, higher-income households tend to experience a greater
positive effect from education in terms of FLFP. Urbanization and marital status were
not found to have any strong effect on the direction of the relationship of household
income to FLFP. However, urban and marital status did have effects on the slope, with
the effect being stronger for married individuals than those not married. Ultimately,
this study provides insights into the factors that negatively affect and positively
contribute to the labor force participation of women in the Philippines, allowing
policymakers to design targeted interventions that address barriers and strengthen
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Keywords
household income, Female labor force participation, gender disparity