SOUTHERN JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURAL ECONOMICS DECEMBER 1992 SUPPLY AND DEMAND FOR MARRIED FEMALE LABOR: RURAL AND URBAN DIFFERENCES IN THE SOUTHERN UNITED STATES

Abstract child care for two worker families are a part of the This study examined the supply of and demand for current tax code. married female labor in the southern United States. As the number of jobs (labor demand) is increased Special attention was given to differences in labor through policy manipulations, constraints to job de-force participation, labor supply, and quantities of mand (labor supply) need to be investigated in order labor supplied and demanded across rural and urban to ensure effective increases in household incomes. areas. Once state effects were accounted for, deci- Factors affecting the labor force participation, and sions to change participation were found not to vary labor supply, of married females have been investi-by urban-rural designation. Differences in demand gated in depth in numerous studies. This paper were fully captured by an intercept shifter and the reexamines these factors or determinants formarried variations in hours supplied by married females be- women in the southern United States with a focus on tween urban and rural areas. Labor supply varied the differences in these determinants between urban greatly with the effects of key determinants (number and rural areas. of children, work force experience, family income) Policymakers need to know whether programs being strongly different in rural areas. Different which increase labor supplies (as either an intende