Labor Force Participation of Married Women in Punjab (Pakistan)

Abstract. This paper highlights the factors that influence the decision of married women (in the age group of 16-60 years) to participate in labor force activities. Employing the probit model on 3911 observations it is found that women’s age, women as head of the household, women’s education, household poverty, family size, number of girls (5-15 years), number of daughters over 15 years of age, husband’s unemployment and low income, and rural locality have a significant positive effect on labor force participation of married women. On the other hand, ownership of assets by the household, household per capita income, being a nuclear family, number of infants, number of sons over 15 years of age, and husband’s education have shown a negative effect. Poverty in an overall perspective is found to be the major determinant of the labor force participation of married women