Trends and Determinants of Female Labor Force Participation in Morocco : An Initial Exploratory Analysis
The U-shape theory argues that at early stages of development, countries experience a reduction in the female labor force participation, eventually followed by a recovery. In Morocco, female labor force participation is now lower than it was two de...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Working Paper |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
World Bank, Washington, DC
2021
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/269721616435662650/Trends-and-Determinants-of-Female-Labor-Force-Participation-in-Morocco-An-Initial-Exploratory-Analysis http://hdl.handle.net/10986/35303 |
| Summary: | The U-shape theory argues that at early
stages of development, countries experience a reduction in
the female labor force participation, eventually followed by
a recovery. In Morocco, female labor force participation is
now lower than it was two decades ago due to several factors
that are discussed in the paper. There is also a persistent
50-percentage-points gender gap in labor force participation
rates, despite improvements typically related to development
and female inclusion—such as a higher gross domestic product
per capita, lower fertility rates, and better access to
education. At the same time, urban job creation has not been
able to offset rural job destruction nor the increase in the
working age population for both genders. Using data from the
Moroccan Labor Force Survey, the World Values Survey, and
the Arab Barometer, probit models and a multinomial logit
are estimated to explore the challenges affecting female
insertion into the labor market. The findings show that
higher educational attainment increases the probability of
female participation, but this relationship has decreased
over time, not being enough to offset other obstacles caused
by other individual and household characteristics. Being
married and the presence of other inactive women are found
to decrease female participation. The educational level of
the head of household (typically men) increases female
inactivity, suggesting that potentially gender roles may
drive women out of the labor market and slow the recovery in
women’s participation. |
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