Abstract
International comparisons reveal that female labor force participation rate is very low in Turkey although it has been increasing in the last decade (OECD, 2015). Moreover, women’s participation into labor force exhibits significant differences by educational attainment and marital status (TURKSTAT, 2013). This paper aims to analyze the characteristics of female labor force participation in Turkey with a life cycle approach. Thus, this study addresses the question of what the average duration of Turkish women in labor force is and how it differs by education and marital status. To answer these questions, multistate working life tables are constructed by using TURKSTAT Income and Living Conditions Survey in 2009-2010. Our findings show that an average Turkish woman at age 15 is expected to spend almost 74% of her remaining lifetime out of labor force. As expected, education has a positive impact on female working life expectancy such that being high educated increases active life expectancy of a woman at age 20 by almost 9 years. On the other hand, being married has a negative impact on active life expectancy of women such that a currently married woman at age 20 has 9.5 years shorter active life expectancy compared to a never married woman at the same age. When both of these variables are controlled, it is observed that the shortest working life expectancy belongs to low educated currently married women.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Title of host publication | Türkiye Dördüncü Nüfusbilim Konferansi |
| Place of Publication | Ankara |
| Publisher | Elma Teknik Basim Matbaacilik |
| Pages | 41-66 |
| ISBN (Print) | 978-975-491-419-1 |
| Publication status | Published - 2016 |