The Impact of Lifecycle Events on Women’s Labour Force Transition: a Panel Analysis

Abstract

This panel study explores the impact of different lifecycle events on women's labour force transitions. Whether the factors that determine entry into the labour force differ from the factors that determine withdrawal from the labour force is explicitly investigated. The results demonstrate that labour force transitions – entry and withdrawal – occur more frequently among young women. The event of childbirth is strongly associated with labour force withdrawal, while marital separation and reductions in family earnings are strongly associated with labour force entry. Moreover, labour force transition probabilities are more sensitive to income-reducing events than to income-supplementing events.Labour Force Transitions; Women; Labour Force Participation; Longitudinal Data