Sobol, Marion Gross. 1973. "A Dynamic Analysis of Labor Force Participation of Married Women of Childbearing Age." Journal of Human Resources 8(4):497-505.

The study for the first time relates labor force behavior of a panel of married women of childbearing age, over a ten-year period, to economic and noneconomic variables. The dependent variable, labor force attachment, is measured by current work behavior, work plans, and actual labor force participation for each woman over a decade. When this variable is related by multiple regression analysis to economic and sociological variables, the most important influences on a wife's labor force participation are found to be expected family size and wife's education. Since education for women is increasing and family size is expected to decrease, there should be an important increase in the labor force participation of younger married women in the coming decades.

The author is Associate Professor and Chairman of the Department of Decision Sciences and Computers, Rider College. The author wishes to thank Dr. Larry L. Bumpass, University of Wisconsin, and the Office of Population Research, Princeton University, for permission to use their data. Special thanks to Dr. Cureton E. Harris for her critical comments on the final presentation of the paper and to Mr. Barry Lubowsky for his help with the computer analysis.

© 2003 by the Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System

US ISSN 0022-166X

Return to JHR Home Page