Cultural Change as Learning: The Evolution of Female Labor Force Participation over a Century

Abstract

P-60 series, and the U.S. Census among others) to calculate earnings for men and women. 60 As there is no data for earnings in 1880 and 1910, these points are constructed using a cubic approximation with the data from 1890 -1930 (inclusive).To construct the earnings sample from 1940 onwards I used the 1% IPUMS samples of the U.S. Census for yearly earnings (incwage) to calculate the median earnings of white 25-44 years old men and women who were working full time (35 or more hours a week) andyear round (40 or more weeks a year) and were in non-farm occupations and not in group quarters. 61 As is commonly done, observations that report weekly earnings less than a cutoff are excluded. 62 Prior to 1980, individuals report earnings from the previous year, weeks 60 See Goldin (1990) pages 64-65 and 129 for greater detail about the earnings construction for various years. I use the data for white men and women. 61 The sample is limited to full-time year-round workers because hourly wages are not reported. The sample could have been restricted to include only married men and women, but I chose not to do this in order to be consistent with the data from the earlier time period.62 The latter is calculated as half the nominal minimum wage times 35 hours a week and nominal weekly wages are calculated by dividing total wage and salary income last year by weeks worked last year. See, for example, Katz and Autor (1999). This procedure is somewhat more problematic for the decades 1940-1960, when the federal minimum wage did not apply to all workers (prior to the 1961 amendment, it only affected those involved in interstate commerce). Nonetheless, I use the same cutoff rule as in Goldin and Margo (1992) as a way to eliminate unreasonably low wages. Note that by calculating median earnings, I do not have to concern myself with top-coding in the Census.

Access to ICT as Moderating Factor to Women‟s Participation in the Labor Force: A Conceptual Framework

“…As well, other factors such as marital status, women age, women"s age at first marriage, location, grandparent"s helps, religiosity and ethnicity were also highlighted by previous researchers as factors that influence the participation of women in the labor market. However, these factors may vary among women of the culture [29]- [31].…”

Convergences in Men’s and Women’s Life Patterns: Lifetime Work, Lifetime Earnings, and Human Capital Investment

“…Labor force participation rates of men and women have converged over time and there has been narrowing of the gender earnings gap. This convergence of labor force participation, earnings and the educational attainment of men and women over time can probably be explained by a combination of structural changes in the economy, technology advances in workplace, declines in fertility, in home production, child care provision and policies addressing discrimination, divorce, marriage and labor markets (Fernández 2013). Fernández (2013) argues that social transformation and a revolution in social attitudes towards married women in the labor market can also explain increases in the labor force participation of women.…”

Culture and Institutions

“…This last point has been more formally developed by Fernandez (2013) and Fogli and Veldkamp (2011), who show how women learn about the long-run payoffs from working by observing nearby employed women. Culture would then quickly evolve over time as a result of this process: when few women participate in the market, information is scarce and participation rises slowly.…”