TY - JOUR
T1 - Gender and labour market transitions in a structurally changing economy
T2 - empirical evidence from a large-scale micro-panel data on Ghana
AU - Atta-Ankomah, Richmond
AU - Asante-Poku, Nana Amma
AU - Agyei-Holmes, Andrew
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Institute for Social and Economic Change 2024.
PY - 2024
Y1 - 2024
N2 - Labour market transitions, particularly those that allow the reallocation of labour from unpaid household production to the market, are crucial for development and structural change. However this area remains largely unexplored in the empirical literature on developing countries. To help address this gap, this study investigates the patterns and trends in labour market transitions as well as the key correlates of these transitions in Ghana using three waves of household panel data spanning a period of 10 years. Using the positive labour mobility index and several econometric techniques, we found that the pattern of household labour allocation and labour market transitions by individuals into income-earning activities remained gendered within the period studied. We found a limited tendency to move out of unpaid housework, an area dominated by females, into sectors of work other than farming. While females in unpaid housework could only move into farming, those in farming were able to move into the household nonfarm sector. These results characterize the trajectory of labour market transitions for women in relation to men in Ghana. Our findings on other key correlates of these transitions largely suggest that intra-household allocation of labour and labour market transitions by individuals may be strongly influenced by gender norms, power relations, and control over household productive resources. This study highlights the implications of these findings.
AB - Labour market transitions, particularly those that allow the reallocation of labour from unpaid household production to the market, are crucial for development and structural change. However this area remains largely unexplored in the empirical literature on developing countries. To help address this gap, this study investigates the patterns and trends in labour market transitions as well as the key correlates of these transitions in Ghana using three waves of household panel data spanning a period of 10 years. Using the positive labour mobility index and several econometric techniques, we found that the pattern of household labour allocation and labour market transitions by individuals into income-earning activities remained gendered within the period studied. We found a limited tendency to move out of unpaid housework, an area dominated by females, into sectors of work other than farming. While females in unpaid housework could only move into farming, those in farming were able to move into the household nonfarm sector. These results characterize the trajectory of labour market transitions for women in relation to men in Ghana. Our findings on other key correlates of these transitions largely suggest that intra-household allocation of labour and labour market transitions by individuals may be strongly influenced by gender norms, power relations, and control over household productive resources. This study highlights the implications of these findings.
KW - D13
KW - Division of labour
KW - Gender
KW - Households
KW - J16
KW - J62
KW - Labour market transitions
KW - Unpaid housework
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85203355470&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1007/s40847-024-00374-0
DO - 10.1007/s40847-024-00374-0
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85203355470
SN - 0972-5792
JO - Journal of Social and Economic Development
JF - Journal of Social and Economic Development
ER -