Job Opportunities along the Rural-Urban Gradation and Female Labor Force Participation in India

The recent decline in India’s rural female labor force participation is generally attributed to higher rural incomes in a patriarchal society. Together with the growing share of the urban population, where female participation rates are lower, this alleged income effect does not bode well for the empowerment of women as India develops. This paper argues that a traditional supply-side interpretation is insufficient to account for the decline in female participation rates, and the transformation of the demand for labor at local levels needs to be taken into account as well. A salient trait of this period is the collapse in the number of farming jobs without a parallel emergence of other employment opportunities considered suitable for women. The paper develops a novel approach to capture the structure of employment at the village or town level, and allow for differences along six ranks in the rural-urban gradation. It also considers the possible misclassification of urban areas as rural, as a result of household surveys lagging behind India’s rapid urbanization process. The results show that the place of residence along the rural-urban gradation loses relevance as an explanation of female labor force participation once local job opportunities are taken into account. Robustness checks confirm that the main findings hold even when taking into account the possibility of spurious correlation and endogeneity. They also hold under alternative definitions of labor force participation and when sub-samples of women are considered. Simulations suggest that for India to reverse the decline in female labor force participation rates it needs to boost job creation.

Bibliographic Details

Main Authors:	Chatterjee, Urmila, Murgai, Rinku, Rama, Martin
Format:	Working Paper biblioteca
Language:	English en_US
Published:	World Bank, Washington, DC 2015-09
Subjects:	LIVING STANDARDS, JOBS, EMPLOYMENT, HOUSEHOLD SIZE, SOCIAL NORMS, POPULATION CENSUSES, UNEMPLOYMENT RATES, WORKFORCE, WORKING-AGE POPULATION, URBANIZATION, EMPLOYMENT GENERATION, LARGE NUMBERS OF PEOPLE, PREVIOUS SECTION, EMPOWERMENT OF WOMEN, OPPORTUNITIES FOR WOMEN, FEWER WOMEN, FAMILY SUPPORT, SERVICE SECTOR, EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES, RURAL WOMEN, EMPLOYMENT EFFECTS, LEVELS OF EDUCATION, LABOR FORCE, DEVELOPING COUNTRIES, AGGREGATE UNEMPLOYMENT, JOB, FEMALE EMPLOYMENT, LABOR ECONOMICS, JOB OPPORTUNITIES FOR WOMEN, POLICY DISCUSSIONS, REAL WAGES, LABOR FORCE PARTICIPATION, RURAL POPULATION, NUMBER OF PEOPLE, EMPLOYMENT TRENDS, POPULATION SIZE, WAGE GROWTH, JOB LOSSES, INTERNATIONAL LABOR ORGANIZATION, ESTIMATED PARAMETERS, SPOUSES, MALE WORKERS, WORK EXPERIENCE, EMPLOYMENT LEVEL, LABOR MARKET, POPULATION CENSUS, EMPLOYMENT LEVELS, REGULAR JOBS, JOB OPPORTUNITIES, EDUCATIONAL ATTAINMENT, MARKET WAGES, FERTILITY RATES, WORKER, LIMITED JOB OPPORTUNITIES, UNEMPLOYED, HOUSEHOLD INCOME, HOUSEHOLD SURVEYS, LAND OWNERSHIP, MARRIAGE, LABOR, OPEN UNEMPLOYMENT, TOTAL EMPLOYMENT, PLACE OF RESIDENCE, JOB SEARCH, CHILD CARE, REGULAR WORKERS, ELDERLY, FEMALE LABOR, EDUCATED WOMEN, PROGRESS, UNEMPLOYMENT, HOUSEHOLD LEVEL, AVERAGE WAGES, HUMAN CAPITAL, AGGREGATE UNEMPLOYMENT RATE, WORKERS, UNEMPLOYMENT RATE, REAL WAGE, LABOR DEMAND, WOMAN, POLICY RESEARCH WORKING PAPER, HOUSEHOLD EARNING, POLICY MAKERS, CASUAL WORKERS, URBAN CENTERS, LABOUR MARKET, PROBIT REGRESSION, URBAN AREAS, PUBLIC DEBATE, JOB CREATION, HOUSEHOLD CHARACTERISTICS, EARNING, PROBIT REGRESSIONS, YOUNG CHILDREN, LABOR MARKET INDICATORS, SMALL VILLAGES, RURAL EMPLOYMENT, FARMING JOBS, REGULAR EMPLOYMENT, POLICY, HUSBANDS, EMPLOYMENT GUARANTEE, LABOR ORGANIZATION, NUMBER OF WOMEN, PARTICIPATION OF WOMEN, LEVEL OF EDUCATION, UNMARRIED WOMEN, LABOUR FORCE, HUMAN RESOURCES, CENSUSES, SOCIAL GROUP, RURAL AREAS, NUMBER OF CHILDREN, FEMALE LABOR FORCE, LABORERS, ECONOMIC TRENDS, POPULATION, LABOR SUPPLY, MARITAL STATUS, LABOUR FORCE PARTICIPATION, LOCAL LABOR MARKET, MARRIED WOMEN, POLICY RESEARCH, FERTILITY, LABOUR SUPPLY, PRIMARY EDUCATION, WOMEN, LABOUR, LABOR MARKETS, URBAN POPULATION, WAGE EMPLOYMENT, HUMAN DEVELOPMENT, DEVELOPMENT POLICY,
Online Access:	http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2015/09/25049370/job-opportunities-along-rural-urban-gradation-female-labor-force-participation-india http://hdl.handle.net/10986/22668
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