Factors Influencing Female Labor Force Participation in Urban, Rural and Kuchi Regions of Afghanistan

Female labor force participation and the factors influencing it are issues that have always attracted the attention of researchers. Given the importance of this issue, the study first examines the female labor force participation rate of Afghan women over the last few decades. Then, the study investigates the factors that affect the activity status of women in the labor market, the number of weekly work hours of females, and the willingness of females to work more hours. Multinomial Logistic Regression, Ordinary Least Squares, and Binary Logistic Regression models were used to examine the effect of individual and household characteristics on dependent variables. The study covered all Urban, Rural, and Kuchi areas in 34 provinces; we used raw data from the 2016-17 Afghanistan Living Conditions Survey (ALCS) to achieve its objectives.<br /><br />Overall, the study highlighted some positive and expected factors and some unexpected and negative factors that influence female labor force participation. The results across all estimated models revealed that education, particularly higher education, plays a crucial role in female labor participation in Afghanistan, which supports the theoretical prediction of the human capital theory. Similarly, results also indicated that female household heads have a positive and consistent impact on pushing females to actively participate in the labor market and work for longer hours. In addition to that, unemployment of the household head stimulates women’s willingness to work for more hours for economic and financial reasons. Finally, access to information such as access to the internet or TV channels positively impacts the labor supply of the females. Among the unexpected results, the place of residence showed an unexpected mixed impact; for instance, women from rural and Kuchi areas are more likely to be economically active (employed or unemployed vs. inactive), but they work fewer hours compared to women from urban areas. Similarly, migration background negatively affects both weekly labor hours and willingness to work, and surprisingly, the poverty of the household does not push females to work for longer hours, and a woman in a poor family is more likely to remain unemployed and inactive, which contradicts the expectation that the financial needs may increase labor participation. However, it reveals the fact that poverty may cause less opportunity for education and, therefore, more limitations in the labor market.

Level thesis:degree_level

thesis.doctoral

Grantor dc:publisher

Universität Bielefeld

Year

2025

Author dc:creator

• Qaeem, Abdul Qayoom

Repository record source_url

https://pub.uni-bielefeld.de/record/3004608

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:pub.uni-bielefeld.de:3004608