Gender and Labor Market Issues Workshop Capacity Building for Implementation of the GAP in ECA by Sarosh Sattar Senior Economist October 23, 2008

Outline Do women and men behave differently in the labor market? Why do men and women behave differently in the labor market? What are the consequences of women’s dual roles? What are some public sector responses?

Do Men and Women Behave Differently in the Labor Force?

Key Labor Force Indicators On what basis can we measure this difference? Labor force participation rates Employment rates Unemployment rates Share of women in the labor force

Indicators

The Female Labor Force as a Share of the Total Labor Force, 2006

Why Do Men and Women Behave Differently?

Reservation wage Reservation wage is the minimally acceptable wage for someone to work It varies by type of job The worse the job conditions, the higher the reservation wage It varies by need Young persons and wives from better off households have higher unemployment rates

The sources of the difference Marriage and children Raises the woman’s reservation wage because of Household chores and time usage Number of children (fertility) Need to find reasonable quality and affordable child care Maximizing household rather than individual welfare Traditional division of labor Women take care of dependents (children and elderly)

Consequences for Women’s Labor Force

Looking at the details Differences in Occupations Public vs. private sector jobs …result in differences in wages Gender wage gap

Note: Figures are based on a nationally representative sample of 1000 people from all ECA countries Source: Life in Transition Survey, 2006

Women are more likely to work in public sector than men

Example: Garment Worker Wages

Example: Education Workers

Public Sector Responses

Issues of preferential treatment of women Lower pension age Women who can retire early face Lower pension income over their longer life time Less likely to get promoted Generous private-sector provided maternity benefits If the employer has to pay for maternity leave, why hire young women?

What can governments do? Policies which lower women’s reservation wages are Provision of affordable and quality childcare Services which make it feasible to find and hold a job Commuting and job search Availability of flexible jobs School hour jobs, part-time jobs, telecommuting Good infrastructure Gender Equality Equal retirement age for men and women Socialize the cost of having children by having the state pick up the tab for maternity benefits.

Policies and outcomes that need to disaggregate by gender Active labor market policies Men and women who fall into unemployment may not have equal probability of escaping it Paper for early transition period found that women were less likely to escape unemployment Education Are the rates of return on education the same for men and women in public and private sectors? Minimum wage legislation Are men and women affected equally?