Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 1979. / Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Economics.

In spite of oil wealth, modernization, and high female educational attainment, the International Labor Organization cites female labor force participation in Kuwait as lower than other high-income countries, world averages, many non-Arab Islamic countries, and some gulf countries such as Qatar and the UAE. These statistics suggest a lack of female participation and agency in development of Kuwaiti society. As Kuwait and other gulf countries create economic strategies to move from dependency on natural resources to the development of skilled and innovative labor, the gap between high educational attainment and low labor force participation must be explored. With a grounded theory approach, this study uses statistical analysis and other secondary data, along with ethnographic methods of observation and in-depth interview with over 56 participants, to identify the social, economic, and political forces shaping the demand and supply of female labor in Kuwait. This research argues that increasing a womenâ"u20ac™s freedom (capability + agency) to participate economically, as well as politically and socially, increases their wellbeing and the sustainable development of their country. Therefore, research also considers Kuwaiti female agency in society for overall participation in sustainable development. To foundationally inform this study, interviews and observations seek a basic understanding of the Kuwaiti woman's experiences, as well as her definitions and perceptions of freedom. Interestingly, research finds two administrations in Kuwait record female LFP at least 18% higher than ILO estimates - discovery backed up by interviews and observations. These numbers not only include the high number of non-Kuwaiti female workers, but Kuwaiti women working in public, private, and informal markets. In addition, the number of Kuwaiti women entrepreneurs in home-based and other small businesses is increasing and becoming important to the economy, but is largely undocumented - suggesting female LFP in Kuwait may even be higher than administrations report. These findings suggest significantly greater female participation in the labor market than reported by international organizations, contradicting stereotypical views of disempowered Middle Eastern women - a view perhaps too often accepted without question by western research and society. Implications of research show potential for growth in the Kuwaiti female labor market within the private sector. / 1 / Shea Bradley Garrison

The bracero programs of the 1942-1964 period have been the subject of a large amount of controversy. One side insists that foreign workers are necessary to the production of the nation's food and fiber while the other is just as certain that native workers will do the work required when paid a reasonable wage. This thesis will attempt to explore the principal issues involved in the controversy.

This paper aims at exploring senior-aged labor force participation in both OECD countries and Taiwan, covering the aspects of the historical trends and transition, the dominant factors influencing participation status, the prevailing measures in practice and cross-country comparison. In the process of this study, secondary data including book, journals, article, news clips and statistical reports were collected and analyzed. The fast growing trends of ageing and low birth rate are supposed to bring about labor supply shortage and impact our economic growth for the years to come. Besides, employment and social policies and practices that discourage work at an older age effectively deny older workers’ choice in when and how they retire. This will result in a waste of valuable human resources and has become a top global issue. In conformity with the fast growing ageing population, more and more ageing labor force is projected to be infused into the labor market so as to support continuous economic development. However, ways to facilitate this group’s willingness of continuous work to sustain the aggregate labor supply are considered even a more tremendous issue. With the efforts made by the government as well as support from both employers and employees, task on the reform of pension system and other parts of social welfare system, abolishment of age discrimination, flexibility of employment protection rules and working hours, and enhancement of job training should be carried out promptly and efficiently. / This paper aims at exploring senior-aged labor force participation in both OECD countries and Taiwan, covering the aspects of the historical trends and transition, the dominant factors influencing participation status, the prevailing measures in practice and cross-country comparison. In the process of this study, secondary data including book, journals, article, news clips and statistical reports were collected and analyzed. The fast growing trends of ageing and low birth rate are supposed to bring about labor supply shortage and impact our economic growth for the years to come. Besides, employment and social policies and practices that discourage work at an older age effectively deny older workers’ choice in when and how they retire. This will result in a waste of valuable human resources and has become a top global issue. In conformity with the fast growing ageing population, more and more ageing labor force is projected to be infused into the labor market so as to support continuous economic development. However, ways to facilitate this group’s willingness of continuous work to sustain the aggregate labor supply are considered even a more tremendous issue. With the efforts made by the government as well as support from both employers and employees, task on the reform of pension system and other parts of social welfare system, abolishment of age discrimination, flexibility of employment protection rules and working hours, and enhancement of job training should be carried out promptly and efficiently.

Over the last twenty years we have seen an increasing use of in-work tax subsidies to encourage labor supply among low-income groups. In Sweden, a non-targeted earned income tax credit was introduced in 2007, and was reinforced in 2008, 2009 and 2010. The stated motive of the reform was to boost employment; in particular to provide incentives for individuals to go from unemployment to, at least, part-time work. In this paper we try to analyze the extensive margin labor supply effects of the Swedish earned income tax credit reform up to 2008. For identification we exploit the fact that the size of the tax credit, as well as the resulting average tax rate, is a function of the municipality of residence and income if working. However, throughout the analysis we find placebo effects that are similar in size to the estimated reform effects. In addition, the results are sensitive with respect to how we define employment, which is especially true when we analyze different subgroups such as men and women, married and singles. Our conclusion is that the identifying variation is too small and potentially endogenous and that it is therefore not possible to use this variation to perform a quasi-experimental evaluation of the Swedish EITC-reform.

Background: One expected consequence of population aging in Europe is the shrinkage of the labor force. Most existing labor force projections allow only inferences about the size and age structure of the future labor force. Objective: In comparison to existing labor force projections, which disaggregate only by age and sex, these projections include information about the highest level of educational attainment (tertiary vs. non-tertiary education), so that an additional level of heterogeneity in labor force participation is considered. This heterogeneity enters the projection methodology through population projection data as well as labor force participation data, since both components are decomposed in the three dimensions of age, sex, and education. Based on data from the European Labor Force Survey (EU LFS), three scenarios were designed to project the economically active population for 26 EU countries up to 2053. Results: Adding the educational dimension to labor force projections discloses a significant shift towards tertiary education degrees between 2008 and 2053. This educational upgrading of the European labor force is not driven by developments in a few large countries but can be expected to take place in each of the 26 analyzed countries. Conclusions: A better educated but shrinking labor force is likely to be able to alleviate some of the anticipated economic consequences of population aging. The presented projections of education-specific labor supply can serve as inputs into forecasts of economic growth that include educational differentials in labor productivity. (author's abstract)

This paper examines the methodology currently used by the Bureau of Labor Statistics to estimate unemployed entrants into the labor force. Unemployed entrants are individuals who enter the labor force for the first time, or after an absence of a year or more. Since these individuals lack current work experience, they are not eligible to receive unemployment compensation and therefore are not accounted for in the Unemployment Insurance system. According to the national Current Population Survey, unemployed entrants make up approximately 40 percent of the total unemployed. The estimation of unemployed entrants is a crucial step in the development of unemployment estimates at the labor market level. This paper demonstrates that the current method in use does not produce realistic estimates. Inconsistencies in the methodology are discussed and an econometric model is presented that produces more accurate measurements of the number of unemployed entrants into the labor force. / Master of Arts

India is the world’s largest democracy where 1 186 200 000 people live and almost half of these are women. So how does women’s situation effect India’s development. This essay focuses on secondary education, female labor force participation and active population growth and measures their affect on Human Development Index (HDI). The literature shows a positive effect of all explanatory variables on HDI. In other an effective resource allocation towards words women might be the key for India to reach higher living standards. It is indeed a question of effective resource allocation because women in India don’t enjoy the same freedoms and rights as men which will clearly effect the countries resource allocation and the HDI

4 pp. / This publication is a fact sheet which provides information about children, youth and families in Arizona. Topics include the statistics about population, labor force, education, economic and social and community indicators over children, youth and families.

In tandem with the economic development in Taiwan, female participation in the labor market has been growing. In 1980, female labor force participation rate in Taiwan was only 39.25% but it increased about 10 percentage points in the following 27 years, rising to 49.44% in 2007. Compared with advanced countries in the OECD, female labor force participation in Taiwan still has a long way to go. This research draws on past patterns in Taiwan and OECD member countries to understand the development of international female labor force participation. The purposes of this study are to understand the trend of female labor force participation in OECD countries and in Taiwan, and to know the impact of the new economy and atypical work on female labor force participation. From this study, it is obvious that internationally female labor force participation has grown from 1980 to 2006. By age groups, it indicates that the highest female labor force participation rate in OECD countries was in the age group of 40-44 while in Taiwan it was in the age group of 25-29. By the level of educational attainment, it brings out that education has improved female labor force participation since the highest female labor force participation rates were in the group of tertiary education in OECD countries, as well as in Taiwan. By sector and occupation, the statistics show that more and more females are employed in the service sector, working as service workers and sales workers. Moreover, the knowledge-based economy and the atypical jobs have lowered the entry barriers of labor market for females and have improved female labor force participation.