Ewa Lechman,

(corresponding author)

Gdansk University of Technology Gdańsk, Poland eda@zie.pg.gda.pl

ECONOMIC GROWTH AND FEMALE LABOR FORCE PARTICIPATION – VERIFYING THE U-FEMINIZATION HYPOTHESIS. NEW EVIDENCE FOR 162 COUNTRIES OVER THE PERIOD 1990-2012

Harleen Kaur,

Hamdard University Hamdard Nagar, India harleen_k1@rediffmail.com

ABSTRACT. The paper contributes by providing new insights into the relationship between female labor force and eco- nomic growth in 162 world countries over the period 1990- 2012. It was hypothesized that an analysis would reveal a U-shaped relationship between female labor force partici- pation and economic growth. The analysis is run from two different perspectives – in the first, the relationship is exam- ined for a sample encompassing 162 countries; and in the second – the evidence is disaggregated and the relationship is re-examined within four income-groups (low-income, lower-middle-income, upper-middle-income and high-in- come). To examine these relationships, data on female la- bor force participation and per capita income are extracted from the World Development Indicators 2013 database, and the relationship is examined by deploying panel data analysis assuming non-linearity between variables. The main findings support the hypothesis of the U-shaped relation- ship between female labor force participation and economic growth, however high cross-country variability on the field is reported. Moreover, the U-shaped feminization hypoth- esis was not positively verified in the case of low-income countries.

Received: January, 2015 1st Revision: March, 2015 Accepted: April, 2015 

DOI:10.14254/2071- 789X.2015/8-1/19

JEL Classification: J21, O10, O50

Keywords: women, female labor force, feminization, U-shaped curve, economic growth