Push or Pull Factors of Female Labour Force Participation in Bangladesh

Abstract

Despite advancement in female educational attainment and the expansion of market economy, female labour force participation rates are still low in comparison to the rates of their male counterparts in Bangladesh. Recent past, urban female participation also slowed down. This paper, seeks the deterministic factors of female participation and also investigate reasons behind the urban slowed down. Data for the study has extracted from the 2010 Labour Force Survey of Statistics Bangladesh and a field survey in 2013 within urban area of Dhaka. Logistic regression modeling has used to estimate the influence of education on labour force participation, and the results show that there is an association between the level of education status and FLFP. Wage earners or low paid household heads strongly motivates their spouses to participate in the labour market, compared salaried or high earners household heads. Number of infants creates obstacles to participate.

Keywords: Logistic regression, female labour force participation, Bangladesh