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Sectoral Changes And The Increase In Women'S Labor Force Participation

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  • Akbulut, Rahşan

Abstract

Throughout the second half of the 20th century, women in the United States decided to move increasingly into the labor market. This paper investigates the growth of the service sector as an explanation for the increase in women's employment. It develops an economic model that can account for the increase in women's employment and the growth of the service sector at the same time. A growth model with two sectors and a home production technology is constructed in order to quantitatively assess the contribution of sectoral productivity differences to the change in women's employment decision. The sectoral productivities are taken from the data. This model demonstrates that a higher rate of productivity growth in market services compared to home services can account for a large fraction of the observed increase in women's labor supply from 1950 to 2005.

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  • Akbulut, Rahşan, 2011. "Sectoral Changes And The Increase In Women'S Labor Force Participation," Macroeconomic Dynamics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 15(2), pages 240-264, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:cup:macdyn:v:15:y:2011:i:02:p:240-264_00
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    Cited by:

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    3. Claudia Olivetti, 2014. "The Female Labor Force and Long-Run Development: The American Experience in Comparative Perspective," NBER Chapters, in: Human Capital in History: The American Record, pages 161-197, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    4. Stephan E. Maurer & Andrei V. Potlogea, 2021. "Male‐biased Demand Shocks and Women's Labour Force Participation: Evidence from Large Oil Field Discoveries," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 88(349), pages 167-188, January.
    5. Claudia Olivetti & Barbara Petrongolo, 2016. "The Evolution of Gender Gaps in Industrialized Countries," Annual Review of Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 8(1), pages 405-434, October.
    6. L. Rachel Ngai & Barbara Petrongolo, 2017. "Gender Gaps and the Rise of the Service Economy," American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics, American Economic Association, vol. 9(4), pages 1-44, October.
    7. Sidra Naeem & Rana Ejaz Ali Khan, 2021. "Fiscal Decentralization and Gender Equality in Developing Economies: Dynamics of Income Groups in Economies and Corruption," Asian Economic and Financial Review, Asian Economic and Social Society, vol. 11(9), pages 745-761, September.
    8. Stephan E. Maurer & Andrei V. Potlogea, 2014. "Fueling the Gender Gap? Oil and Women's Labor and Marriage Market Outcomes," CEP Discussion Papers dp1280, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE.
    9. Yuki, Kazuhiro, 2016. "Education, Inequality, And Development In A Dual Economy," Macroeconomic Dynamics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 20(1), pages 27-69, January.
    10. Romina Kazandjian & Ms. Lisa L Kolovich & Ms. Kalpana Kochhar & Ms. Monique Newiak, 2016. "Gender Equality and Economic Diversification," IMF Working Papers 2016/140, International Monetary Fund.
    11. Sasaki, Hiroaki, 2020. "Is growth declining in the service economy?," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 53(C), pages 26-38.
    12. Cigdem Gedikli, 2020. "Occupational Gender Segregation in Turkey: The Vertical and Horizontal Dimensions," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 41(1), pages 121-139, March.
    13. Michael Bar & Moshe Hazan & Oksana Leukhina & David Weiss & Hosny Zoabi, 2018. "Why did rich families increase their fertility? Inequality and marketization of child care," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 23(4), pages 427-463, December.
    14. Bilal Nabeel Falah & Marcelo Bérgolo & Arwa Abu Hashhash & Mohammad Hattawy & Iman Saadeh, 2019. "The Effect of Labor-Demand Shocks on Women’s Participation in the Labor Force: Evidence from Palestine," Working Papers PMMA 2019-08, PEP-PMMA.
    15. Claudia Olivetti & Barbara Petrongolo, 2014. "Gender gaps across countries and skills: Demand, supply and the industry structure," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 17(4), pages 842-859, October.
    16. Izaskun Barba & Belen Iraizoz, 2020. "Effect of the Great Crisis on Sectoral Female Employment in Europe: A Structural Decomposition Analysis," Economies, MDPI, vol. 8(3), pages 1-24, August.
    17. Claudia Olivetti & Barbara Petrongolo, 2014. "Gender gaps across countries and skills: Demand, supply and the industry structure," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 17(4), pages 842-859, October.
    18. Constantin ANGHELACHE & Mădălina Gabriela ANGHEL, 2017. "The European Union's strategy for increasing the living conditions of the population in the member states," Theoretical and Applied Economics, Asociatia Generala a Economistilor din Romania / Editura Economica, vol. 0(3(612), A), pages 5-18, Autumn.
    19. Tendai Zawaira & Manoel Bittencourt & Matthew W. Clance, 2018. "Gender Inequality and Marketisation Hypothesis in Sub-Saharan Africa," Working Papers 201876, University of Pretoria, Department of Economics.
    20. Christopher Colburn & Haiwen Zhou, 2022. "The partition of production between households and markets," International Studies of Economics, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 17(1), pages 21-35, June.
    21. Romina Kazandjian & Lisa Kolovich & Kalpana Kochhar & Monique Newiak, 2019. "Gender Equality and Economic Diversification," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 8(4), pages 1-24, April.
    22. Karapanagiotis, Pantelis & Reimers, Paul, 2024. "Why does the schooling gap close while the wage gap persists across country income comparisons?," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 159(C).
    23. Brussevich, Masha, 2018. "Does trade liberalization narrow the gender wage gap? The role of sectoral mobility," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 109(C), pages 305-333.

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