Determinants of and Trends in Labor Force Participation of Women in Turkey
Female labor force participation rate in Turkey is quite low by European Union (EU) and Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) standards: it was 24.9 percent in 2006, compared to 66.1 percent in EU-27 and 60.8 percent in OECD...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Working Paper |
| Language: | English en_US |
| Published: |
World Bank, Ankara
2017
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/466591468316462301/Determinants-of-and-trends-in-labor-force-participation-of-women-in-Turkey http://hdl.handle.net/10986/27853 |
| Summary: | Female labor force participation rate in
Turkey is quite low by European Union (EU) and Organization
for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) standards:
it was 24.9 percent in 2006, compared to 66.1 percent in
EU-27 and 60.8 percent in OECD countries. Moreover, it has
declined from 34.3 percent in 1988 to 24.9 percent in 2006.
The purpose of this report is to shed light on factors that
determine women's participation in the labor market and
the reasons behind the observed trends over the 1988-2006
periods. An important reason for the fall in female
participation rate is urbanization. Turkey has witnessed
high levels migration from rural to urban areas since 1988.
The share of urban population rose from 51.1 percent in 1988
to 63.3 percent in 2006. Despite the declining trend, the
female labor force participation rate in rural areas is
still higher than that in urban areas, which has been more
stable over time. In fact, the gender gap in participation
rate in urban areas is much wider. Significant improvements
have taken in place in women's schooling in recent
decades in Turkey. The final interesting finding that
requires further investigation is the low and stagnant
participation rates of low skilled women - those with less
than high school education. Over the 2000-2006 periods, the
participation rate of low skilled women varied between 10.9
and 11.8 percent. These are considerably lower rates
compared to that of low skilled men which, over the same
time period, varied between 67.1 and 68.8 percent. |
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