Gender Determinants of Informal Labour Force Participation in Cameroon: The Role of Education

Abstract

One of the most salient features of developing countries is the preponderance of the informal sector. This sector employs more than 90% of the labour in Cameroon. The main objective of this paper is to empirically examine gender factors that determine informal labour force participation in Cameroon with particular emphasis on the role of education. In order to achieve this objective, the paper used probit model on data collected from the second Cameroon Labour Force survey. Three models were estimated for the two gender sub samples and the total sample. Results from the data analysis reveal that education plays a very important role in explaining men and women decision to join the informal labour market. More precisely, at lower level of education, notably the primary level, women were more likely to join the informal sector of employment. At secondary level of education, women remained more likely to participate in the informal sector whereas the situation reverses for men. Another gender difference highlighted in the study is the fact that with the marital status: married men were more likely to join the informal employment unlike married women. Other factors significantly influencing informal Labour Force Participation include religion, age and urban zone of residence.

Keywords: Gender, informal labour force, education, probit,

JEL Classification: B30, B53, C11, C23, O10, O40

DOI: 10.7176/JAAS/54-04

Publication date: April 30^th 2019