Labour markets and fertility choices are tightly linked as child bearing determines both human capital accumulation, labour force participation, and occupational choice. In most countries, women do the bulk of work inside the home, and this naturally affects their participation in paid employment and their occupational choice. To understand female labour market outcomes, it is therefore essential to understand the causes of this specialisation and how it is related to fertility. Evidence from high-income countries shows strong labour market penalties associated with child bearing. What are the penalties in LICs? How does childbearing and being the primary career affect labour force participation and occupational choice? How does it affect women’s ability to migrate to locations with higher wages?
The majority of the population in LICs depend on rain–fed agriculture for livelihoods, which means the timing of most activities is dependent on the rainfall calendar and pattern. This has obvious implications on the timing of other events...
While growth has taken off in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) in recent decades, the structural transformation of its economies is still lagging far behind that observed in other previously low-and-middle-income regions across the world. At the same time,...
We study the interlinked role of beliefs, preferences, and search by workers and firms in driving occupational segregation and wage inequality for women in Nairobi, Kenya. Our project address four questions within this agenda: (1) (How) do employers...
Our project studies the role of the public sector and the opportunities it can provide for women’s employment and the gender pay gap in low-income countries (LICs). Using the preliminary evidence from microdata for a number of SSA countries, we...
The project, to be conducted jointly by the Centre for Global Development (CGD) and Policy Studies Institute (PSI), aims to answer the following questions by evaluating a randomized trial of community-based childcare and early learning facilities as...
In recent years, Ethiopia has become a hub for textile and garment manufacturing. These factories provide employment opportunities in low-skilled jobs, drawing many young women into the formal labour force. Although the factories create formal jobs...
In this study, we conduct a long-term follow-up of an empowerment programme (which raised labour force participation prior to marriage) and an anti-child marriage programme. We (a) investigate how exogenously changing adolescent girls’ (i)...
Rapidly expanding Internet access has dramatically changed job seeking across the developing world. This surge in access has occurred alongside a private sector-led expansion of online job portals providing search and matching services Despite these...
Microenterprises are an important source of employment, and developing such enterprises is a key policy concern in most countries, especially in low-income countries where they employ more than half of the labor force. While there is optimism about...
There are three main explanations as to why female labor force participation, globally, remains low: (1) women’s high opportunity cost of time (2) weak labor demand and (3) restrictive gender norms. The research team will test aspects of all three...
