Female Labour Force Participation in urban Cameroon: Do children and health status really matter?

Type Working Paper
Title Female Labour Force Participation in urban Cameroon: Do children and health status really matter?
Author(s)
Publication (Day/Month/Year) 2009
Abstract
Many studies report empirical relationship either between fertility and labour supply or, between health and labour
market outcomes. An extension of these ideas involves explicitly considering how fertility and health affect each
other, and how they interrelate with labour force participation. This paper provides a unifying framework to capture
the interdependence between these variables as well as their respective determinants. Using a cross-section data set
obtained from a survey of the Cameroon urban population, the results indicate that: (i) fertility and health status
are significantly interrelated, thus separate estimations of fertility (or health status) and participation will produce
misleading results; (ii) working in either sector of the labour market significantly reduces fertility but, unlike many
previous studies, fertility has a positive impact on the probability of labour force participation; (iii) there is strong
evidence that health and disability status is a significant determinant of employment, but the reverse depend on the
labour market sector and on the health indicator used.

Related studies

»