Gender and Labor Market Issues

WorkshopCapacity Building for Implementation of the GAP in ECA

bySarosh Sattar

Senior EconomistOctober 23, 2008

Outline

Do women and men behave differently in the labor market?

Why do men and women behave differently in the labor market?

What are the consequences of women’s dual roles?

What are some public sector responses?

Do Men and Women Behave Differently in the Labor Force?

Key Labor Force Indicators

On what basis can we measure this difference? Labor force participation rates Employment rates Unemployment rates Share of women in the labor force

Indicators

Labor Market Indicators

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

Employmentrate

Labor forceparticipation rate

Unemploymentrate

Share of womenin labor force

in p

erce

nt

Female Male

The Female Labor Force as a Share of the Total Labor Force, 2006

2829

41 4244 45 45

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

45

50

Middle East& NorthAfrica

South Asia LatinAmerica &Caribbean

Sub-Saharan

Africa

East Asia &Pacific

Highincome:OECD

Europe &Central Asia

Fem

ale

labo

r fo

rce

as %

to to

tal l

abor

forc

e

Why Do Men and Women Behave Differently?

Reservation wage

Reservation wage is the minimally acceptable wage for someone to work It varies by type of job

The worse the job conditions, the higher the reservation wage

It varies by need Young persons and wives from better off

households have higher unemployment rates

The sources of the difference

Marriage and children Raises the woman’s reservation wage because of

Household chores and time usage Number of children (fertility) Need to find reasonable quality and affordable child care

Maximizing household rather than individual welfare Traditional division of labor

Women take care of dependents (children and elderly)

Consequences for

Women’s Labor Force

Looking at the details

Differences in Occupations Public vs. private sector jobs

…result in differences in wages Gender wage gap

Gender gap in Labor force participation, by occupational categories

0

20

40

60

80

100le

gisl

ator

,se

nior

offic

ials

prof

essi

onal

s

tech

nici

ans

and

asso

c

cler

ks

serv

ice

wor

kers

skill

edag

ricul

tura

l

craf

t an

dre

late

d tr

a

plan

t an

dm

achi

ne o

pe

unsk

illed

wor

kers

arm

ed f

orce

s

Male Female

Note: Figures are based on a nationally representative sample of 1000 people from all ECA countries

Source: Life in Transition Survey, 2006

Women are more likely to work in public sector than men

Public Sector Employment by Sex, 2006

29

4452 52

21

42

51

6662

24

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

EU Balkan CIS-Low CIS-Middle Turkey

in p

erc

en

t

Male Female

42% of all women work in the PS

Example: Garment Worker Wages

Gender gap in Real Earning Index for Garment Cutter in selected ECA countries

0

50

100

150

200

250

2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005Real E

ranin

g Index

Belarus (Male) Belarus (Female)

Latvia (Male) Latvia (Female)

Moldova (Male) Moldova (Female)

Romania (Male) Romania (Female)

Example: Education Workers

Gender gap in Real Earning Index for First level Educational Teacher in selected ECA countries

0

50

100

150

200

250

2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005Real E

arn

ing I

ndex

Belarus (Male) Belarus (Female)

Moldova (Male) Moldova (Female)

Romania (Male) Romania (Female)

Slovakia (Male) Slovakia (Female)

Public Sector Responses

Issues of preferential treatment of women Lower pension age

Women who can retire early face Lower pension income over their longer life time Less likely to get promoted

Generous private-sector provided maternity benefits If the employer has to pay for maternity leave,

why hire young women?

What can governments do?

Policies which lower women’s reservation wages are Provision of affordable and quality childcare Services which make it feasible to find and hold a job

Commuting and job search Availability of flexible jobs

School hour jobs, part-time jobs, telecommuting Good infrastructure

Gender Equality Equal retirement age for men and women Socialize the cost of having children by having the

state pick up the tab for maternity benefits.

Policies and outcomes that need to disaggregate by gender Active labor market policies

Men and women who fall into unemployment may not have equal probability of escaping it

Paper for early transition period found that women were less likely to escape unemployment

Education Are the rates of return on education the same for men

and women in public and private sectors? Minimum wage legislation

Are men and women affected equally?