Between 1960 and 2011, both the male and female labor force participation rates increased. the male labor force participation rate decreased rapidly, the female labor force participation rate decreased slowly, and the two rates are now equal. the male labor force participation rate decreased and the female labor force participation rate increased. both the male and female labor force participation rates decreased slowly. the male labor force participation rate did not change and the female labor force participation rate increased.
Part 1: Labour supply at the micro-level
Suppose you work in a government department working on policy design, and tasked with preparing a discussion paper on the gender-gap in labour supply. A statistician has produced a set of regression model estimates using HILDA data. You've been told to provide a brief report based on these. commenting on what these model estimates tell us about gender differences in labour supply in Australia, including policy implications. You have been given some specific questions to address (below) in your report.
a)
What can we say about gender-differences in hours worked, based on the estimates from Model 1? Does this make sense? b) What can we say about how the presence of children in the household affects hours worked for men and women, based on the estimates from Models 2a and 2b? Does this make sense? c) To what extent does education level explain differences in hours worked for men and women. based on the estimates from Models 2a and 2b? What does this imply about gender- lifferences in the determinants of hours worked? a) A key element of labour supply theory is the association between the wage rate and hours worked. Comment on this association, as estimated by model 3 (versions a, b, and c). Is there evidence here to suggest a gender gap in this association? b) If you seek to obtain the best possible estimate of the association between the wage rate and hours worked,would you recommend including (controlling for) education level in your model? How would the inclusion of education level affect the way you interpret the estimated model coefficients? c) How does a fixed-effects model differ from a pooled OLS model? How does shifting from pooled OLS to fixed-effects change the interpretation of the model coefficients? What does the fixed-effects panel model estimates presented here add to our understanding of determinants of working hours among men and women in the short-term? d) Reflect on what the estimates in Table 1 tell us about gender differences in labour supply in Australia; and the possible implications for policy design intended to boost female labour supply.
Part 2: A different perspective on the determinants of women's labour supply
A helpful colleague (and labour economist) sends you a highly cited journal article (Mothers and Sons", provided), arguing its relevance to an informed discussion of gender gaps in labour supply, and suggesting you include a discussion of this paper in your report. Provide a succinct summary of the paper addressing these points:
What is (are) the key hypothesis(es) the authors are trying to test? Describe the research design, as clearly as you can. I.e., how does the empirical strategy employed here help the authors test their hypothesis(es)? How does this study inform us about important determinants of female labour supply? What are the implications for policy design intended to boost female labour supply?
