IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/inddev/v16y2022i1p139-157.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Female Labour Force Participation Rates in Assam: Trends, Composition and Determinants

Author

Listed:
  • Chayanika Boruah
  • Debarshi Das

Abstract

In India, since the 1970s, there is a declining trend in the female labour force participation. Given the fast economic growth, declining fertility rate and rising women’s educational enrolment in the past few decades, this decline is puzzling. Assam is not an exception to this trend of declining female labour force participation rate (LFPR). This study is an attempt to analyse the patterns and determinants of female LFPR in Assam during the period from 2004 to 2011. The analyses are based on National Sample Survey Office (NSSO) unit-level data of three rounds of employment and unemployment surveys. This article probes female LFPR across age cohorts, education, economic groups, social groups, status, etc. Probit regression models are used on the latest available data. An important result of the article is, status concerns measured by caste interacted with land possession impede the labour force participation of women.

Suggested Citation

  • Chayanika Boruah & Debarshi Das, 2022. "Female Labour Force Participation Rates in Assam: Trends, Composition and Determinants," Indian Journal of Human Development, , vol. 16(1), pages 139-157, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:inddev:v:16:y:2022:i:1:p:139-157
    DOI: 10.1177/09737030221074557
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/09737030221074557
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/09737030221074557?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Bhalla, Surjit & Kaur, Ravinder, 2011. "Labour force participation of women in India: some facts, some queries," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 38367, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    2. Maitreyi Bordia Das, and Sonalde Desai, 2003. "Why are educated women less likely to be employed in India? Testing competing hypotheses," Social Protection Discussion Papers and Notes 27868, The World Bank.
    3. Neff, Daniel & Sen, Kunal & Kling, Veronika, 2012. "The Puzzling Decline in Rural Women's Labor Force Participation in India: A Reexamination," GIGA Working Papers 196, GIGA German Institute of Global and Area Studies.
    4. Debarshi Das, 2009. "An explanation of share tenancy in terms of unemployment, social norms and power," The Journal of International Trade & Economic Development, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 18(4), pages 527-540.
    5. Stephan Klasen & Janneke Pieters, 2015. "What Explains the Stagnation of Female Labor Force Participation in Urban India?," The World Bank Economic Review, World Bank, vol. 29(3), pages 449-478.
    6. Johnson, William R & Skinner, Jonathan, 1986. "Labor Supply and Marital Separation," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 76(3), pages 455-469, June.
    7. Vinoj Abraham, 2008. "Employment growth in rural India: Distress driven?," Centre for Development Studies, Trivendrum Working Papers 404, Centre for Development Studies, Trivendrum, India.
    8. Mukesh Eswaran & Bharat Ramaswami & Wilima Wadhwa, 2013. "Status, Caste, and the Time Allocation of Women in Rural India," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 61(2), pages 311-333.
    9. Afridi, Farzana & Dinkelman, Taryn & Mahajan, Kanika, 2016. "Why Are Fewer Married Women Joining the Work Force in India? A Decomposition Analysis over Two Decades," IZA Discussion Papers 9722, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    10. Bardhan, Pranab K, 1973. "Size, Productivity, and Returns to Scale: An Analysis of Farm-Level Data in Indian Agriculture," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 81(6), pages 1370-1386, Nov.-Dec..
    11. George Grantham, 2012. "Occupational, Marital, and Life-Cycle Determinants of Women's Labor Force Participation in Mid Nineteenth-Century Rural France," Feminist Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 18(4), pages 97-119, October.
    12. Chatterjee,Urmila & Murgai,Rinku & Rama,Martin G., 2015. "Job opportunities along the rural-urban gradation and female labor force participation in India," Policy Research Working Paper Series 7412, The World Bank.
    13. Psacharopoulos, George & Tzannatos, Zafiris, 1989. "Female Labor Force Participation: An International Perspective," The World Bank Research Observer, World Bank, vol. 4(2), pages 187-201, July.
    14. Aysit Tansel, 2001. "Economic Development and Female Labor Force Participation in Turkey: Time-Series Evidence and Cross-Province Estimates," Working Papers 0124, Economic Research Forum, revised 08 2001.
    15. George Grantham, 2012. "Occupation, Marital Status and Life-Cycle Determinants of Women’s Labour Force Participation in Mid-nineteenth-Century Rural France," Working Papers 0022, European Historical Economics Society (EHES).
    16. Andres,Luis Alberto & Dasgupta,Basab & Joseph,George & Abraham,Vinoj & Correia,Maria C., 2017. "Precarious drop : reassessing patterns of female labor force participation in India," Policy Research Working Paper Series 8024, The World Bank.
    17. Krishna Surjya Das & Deepak Kumar Mishra, 2018. "Woman and work in rural Assam: pattern and determinants," Journal of Social and Economic Development, Springer;Institute for Social and Economic Change, vol. 20(2), pages 213-239, October.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Rajshree Bedamatta & Mridusmita Bordoloi, 2024. "India’s Missing Female Youth Labour Force: Size, Characteristics and Policy Concern," The Indian Journal of Labour Economics, Springer;The Indian Society of Labour Economics (ISLE), vol. 67(2), pages 465-481, June.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Dhanaraj, Sowmya & Mahambare, Vidya, 2019. "Family structure, education and women’s employment in rural India," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 115(C), pages 17-29.
    2. Chaudhary, Ruchika. & Verick, Sher., 2014. "Female labour force participation in India and beyond," ILO Working Papers 994867893402676, International Labour Organization.
    3. Amrita Datta & Tanuka Endow & Balwant Singh Mehta, 2020. "Education, Caste and Women’s Work in India," The Indian Journal of Labour Economics, Springer;The Indian Society of Labour Economics (ISLE), vol. 63(2), pages 387-406, June.
    4. Gupta, Tanu & Negi, Digvijay, 2021. "Daughter Vs. Daughter-in-Law: Kinship Roles and Women’s Time Use in India," 2021 Conference, August 17-31, 2021, Virtual 315021, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    5. Syamantak Chattopadhyay & Subhanil Chowdhury, 2022. "Female Labour Force Participation in India: An Empirical Study," The Indian Journal of Labour Economics, Springer;The Indian Society of Labour Economics (ISLE), vol. 65(1), pages 59-83, March.
    6. Antara Bhattacharyya & Sushil Kr. Haldar, 2020. "Does U Feminisation Work in Female Labour Force Participation Rate? India: A Case Study," The Indian Journal of Labour Economics, Springer;The Indian Society of Labour Economics (ISLE), vol. 63(1), pages 143-160, March.
    7. repec:ilo:ilowps:486789 is not listed on IDEAS
    8. Esha Chatterjee & Sonalde Desai & Reeve Vanneman, 2018. "Indian paradox: Rising education, declining womens' employment," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 38(31), pages 855-878.
    9. Dhanaraj, Sowmya & Mahambare, Vidya, 2019. "Family structure, education and women’s employment in rural India," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 115(C), pages 17-29.
    10. Deeksha Tayal & Sourabh Paul, 2021. "Labour Force Participation Rate of Women in Urban India: An Age-Cohort-Wise Analysis," The Indian Journal of Labour Economics, Springer;The Indian Society of Labour Economics (ISLE), vol. 64(3), pages 565-593, September.
    11. Mehrotra, Santosh & Parida, Jajati K., 2017. "Why is the Labour Force Participation of Women Declining in India?," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 98(C), pages 360-380.
    12. Fletcher, Erin K. & Pande, Rohini & Moore, Charity Troyer, 2019. "Women and Work in India: Descriptive Evidence and a Review of Potential Policies," India Policy Forum, National Council of Applied Economic Research, vol. 15(1), pages 149-216.
    13. Deshpande, Ashwini & Singh, Jitendra, 2021. "Dropping Out, Being Pushed Out or Can’t Get in? Decoding Declining Labour Force Participation of Indian Women," IZA Discussion Papers 14639, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    14. Ashwini Deshpande & Jitendra Singh, 2021. "Dropping Out, Being Pushed out or Can't Get In? Decoding Declining Labour Force Participation of Indian Women," Working Papers 65, Ashoka University, Department of Economics.
    15. Farzana Afridi & Taryn Dinkelman & Kanika Mahajan, 2018. "Why are fewer married women joining the work force in rural India? A decomposition analysis over two decades," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 31(3), pages 783-818, July.
    16. Parida, Jajati Keshari & Bhagavatula, Niharika, 2023. "The labour market dilemma of young urban women in India: An outcome of family welfare optimization," World Development Perspectives, Elsevier, vol. 32(C).
    17. Deininger,Klaus W. & Jin,Songqing & Nagarajan,Hari Krishnan & Singh,Sudhir K., 2020. "Political Reservation and Female Labor Force Participation in Rural India," Policy Research Working Paper Series 9350, The World Bank.
    18. Nabanita Datta Gupta & Debasish Nandy & Suddhasil Siddhanta, 2020. "“Opt out” or kept out? The effect of stigma, structure, selection, and sector on the labor force participation of married women in India," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 24(3), pages 927-948, August.
    19. Margaux Suteau, 2020. "Inheritance Rights and Women's Empowerment in the Labor and Marriage Markets," THEMA Working Papers 2020-17, THEMA (THéorie Economique, Modélisation et Applications), Université de Cergy-Pontoise.
    20. Fenske, James & Gupta, Bishnupriya & Yuan, Song, 2022. "Demographic Shocks and Women’s Labor Market Participation: Evidence from the 1918 Influenza Pandemic in India," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 82(3), pages 875-912, September.
    21. Sarkar, Sudipa & Sahoo, Soham & Klasen, Stephan, 2019. "Employment transitions of women in India: A panel analysis," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 115(C), pages 291-309.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:inddev:v:16:y:2022:i:1:p:139-157. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.