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Title: Analysis of Factors Influencing Women's Labor Force Participation Decisions
Resulting in 1 citation.
1. Knutson, Marlys
Schreiner, Dean
Analysis of Factors Influencing Women's Labor Force Participation Decisions
Research Report O-723, Agricultural Experiment Station, Oklahoma State University, 1975
Cohort(s): Mature Women
Publisher: Agricultural Experiment Station, Oklahoma State University
Keyword(s): Children; Commuting/Type, Time, Method; Employment; Family Background and Culture; Labor Force Participation; Rural Areas; Schooling; Wages; Women's Studies; Work Attitudes

Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher.

The general purpose of this study is to analyze the factors important in: (1) determining a woman's labor force participation decision; and (2) influencing the time a woman is willing to supply in the labor market. Results of the labor participation analysis include: (1) attainment of a higher educational level is an indication that she will more likely be a participant in the labor force than the woman who has failed to complete high school; (2) recent work experience is a more influential factor in the current labor force status of the woman than is work which occurred upon leaving school; (3) husband's income plays an extremely important role in determining the labor force status of the married woman; and (4) residence is insignificant after correcting for other variables. A household production consumption model is used to analyze the demand for consumption time and thus, the supply of working time. Conclusions reached from this analysis are: (1) decisions concerning the hours a woman is at home are made in a family context where production is one of the household activities; (2) within the range of the data, a backward-bending supply curve of time at work does not exist and the estimated elasticity of the supply of working hours with respect to wage (evaluated at the mean wage rate and the mean of hours worked) is .160; (3) the level of commuting time at which working hours are a maximum is 58 minutes, all other things constant; and (4) a higher wage rate is needed in the SMSA - nonfarm areas to entice a woman there to supply the same number of work hours as a woman in a non SMSA - nonfarm area.
Bibliography Citation
Knutson, Marlys and Dean Schreiner. "Analysis of Factors Influencing Women's Labor Force Participation Decisions." Research Report O-723, Agricultural Experiment Station, Oklahoma State University, 1975.