The Effect of Fertility on Womens Labour Supply in West Africa

This study sought to identify and analyse the effect of childbirth on female labour supply, specifically that of married women with at least one young child under 6 years of age. The number of children is the result of a decision that turns out to be endogenous. To take this endogeneity into account, the study used twins as an instrument. Accordingly, we estimated an instrumented Probit model given that female labour supply is measured by two different binary variables. Based on Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) data from five countries (Benin, Cote dIvoire, Ghana, Nigeria, and Senegal), the studys key findings are the POLICY BRIEF The Effect of Fertility on Womens Labour Supply in West Africa M. Kenneth C. Kponou October 2023 / No.802 2 Policy Brief No.802 following: (i) the effect of fertility on female labour supply is not uniform across all the countries considered, and (ii) the relationship between fertility and female labour force participation is sensitive to the measure of participation used to measure it. Based on our findings, we make the following key recommendations: (i) put in place policies to encourage the transition of women from traditional jobs that are quite vulnerable to more formal jobs and (ii) implement corrective measures so that young children are no longer a penalty for women's access to formal jobs.