MORE WOMEN ARE WORKING
Gokce Uysal Executive Summary
Turkey has always lagged behind comparable countries in international gender equality rankings due to low female labor force participation rates. Hence female labor force participation has been an important area for policy-making in Turkey.Academicians, think tanks as well as policy makers follow the labor market status of females closely. Labor market statistics released by Turkstat and seasonally adjusted by Betam, show that female labor force participation rates have been increasing in Turkey, and that the share of housewives among those out of the labor market has been decreasing. In spite of this slow but consistent increase, Turkey still falls far behind of other countries. Comprehensive policies that integrate education, tax incentives for female employment, child care subsidies and paternity leave are crucial in surmounting obstacles to labor market entry for women.
Female labor force keeps increasing even after the crisis
Labor market data released by Turkstat shows that labor force participation of women (those who are employed and those who are looking for work) has slowly but consistently been increasing between January 2005 and April 2012.1 According to seasonally adjusted series, the working age population of
women (over the age of 15) was 24 million 509 thousand and 5 million 709 thousand women were in the labor force, whereas these increased to 27 million 672 thousand and 8 million 54 thousand respectively in April 2012. Clearly, when both the number of employed and the working age population are increasing, rates, rather than levels, are more meaningful. The female labor force participation rate (LFPR) is provided in Figure 1. From January 2005 to April 2012, female LFPR increased from 23.3 percent to 29.1 percent.
Figure 1 Female labor force participation rate
Asst. Prof. Gokce Uysal-Kolasin, Betam, gokce.uysal@bahcesehir.edu.tr
1 January 2005 is the earliest and April 2012 is the latest monthly data available.
Research Brief 12/137
Source: HLFS, Betam
The effects of the global economic crisis on female labor force participation are clear in Figure 1. Female LFPR was stagnating from January 2005 (23.3 percent) until November 2007 (22.7 percent). It started to increase and even accelerated after February 2008 and continued until August 2011 (29.1 percent) after which it stagnated again.
During economic crises when households face higher risks of unemployment, members who are able to work but who are not currently active in the labor market, enter the labor market. This is called the added worker effect and it is particularly strong in countries like Turkey where LFPR are low due to low female participation.2As the labor market ameliorates after the crisis and unemployment rates
decrease, women exit the labor market. This was observed in the labor market in Turkey in previous economic crises. Nevertheless, women who have entered the labor market during this particular crisis have not yet exited despite sharp decreases in overall unemployment rates. The non-agricultural unemployment rates fell to pre-crisis levels in March 2011.3We expect female employment and female
LFPR to increase in the future due to increasing education levels, increasing retirement ages, etc. The reasons for not participating also shed light on labor market status of women. We concentrate on reasons such as housework, education, retirement and discouragement below.
Share of housewives decreases
The household labor force surveys ask the reason why an individual does not participate in the labor market. In January 2005, 12 million 913 thousand women declared that they were not participating because they were doing housework. In January 2012, the number of women who were inactive because they were housewives, decreased to 12 million 127 thousand. We provide the share of these women in the working age female population in Figure 2. As the working age female population expands during this period, the share of women who do not participate because they are housewives shrinks. In January 2005, their share was 52.7 percent, in April 2012; it was down to 43.8 percent. Figure 2 Share in working age female population
Source: HLFS, Betam
2 Başlevent C. ve Onaran, O., 2003, “Are married women in Turkey more likely to become added or discouraged workers?”, Labour, 17(3), s. 439-458.
Gürsel, S., Uysal-Kolaşin, G. ve M. A. Dinçer, 2008, “Women are desperately seeking self-employment”, Betam Research Brief 34, 27 April 2009.
Women spend more time in education
The share of women who continue their educaton in working age female population has been increasing steadily. 5.8 percent of women were not participating in the labor market because they were continuing their education in January 2005. Their share was up to 7.7 percent in April 2012. Turkey has recently decided to increase compulsory years of education from 8 to 12 years. This has come to be known as the 4+4+4 Law, referring to 12 years being separated into 3 sections of 4 years each. As compulsory years of education increases, we will observe more women stay in the education system and delay entry into the labor market. In the short run, this will increase the share of women who stay out of the labor market. On the other hand, given that labor force participation increases drastically with education in Turkey, the female LFPR will continue to rise in the medium to long term.
Retired and discouraged workers
The shares of retired and discouraged workers are small in the working age female population. Therefore the increases in these series seem negligible. The share of retired has increased from 2.4 to 3 percent and the share of discouraged from 2.8 to 3.7 percent during this period.
More women should participate in the labor market
Even though female LFPR rates have been increasing consistently, it is still far below those in other countries. The fact that only 30 percent of our women are currently employed or are looking for work indicates that Turkey has to work hard to increase female labor force participation. Previous research conducted in Betam shows that education is an important factor in this respect; however, it is far from sufficient.4Policies such as tax incentives for female employment, childcare subsidies and paternity
leave will be efficient provided that they are carefully designed. Some important points are as follows. These policies should not render female employment relatively more costly for employers. Social transfers should not impose “not working” as a necessary condition. Childcare subsidies should take regional differences in costs into account.
4 Gürsel, S., Uysal-Kolaşin, G. ve A. Acar, “Women face cultural and institutional barriers to participation in the labor market”, Betam Research Brief 115, 20 May 2011.
