Women at Work in the Pre-Civil War United States: An Analysis of Unreported Family Workers

Barry Chiswick and RaeAnn Halenda Robinson (rhalenda@gwu.edu)
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RaeAnn Halenda Robinson: George Washington University

No 13424, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: Rates of labor force participation in the US in the second half of the nineteenth century among free women were exceedingly (and implausibly) low, about 11 percent. This is due, in part, to social perceptions of working women, cultural and societal expectations of female's role, and lack of accurate or thorough enumeration by Census officials. This paper develops an augmented free female labor force participation rate for 1860. It is calculated by identifying free women (age 16 and older) who were likely providing informal and unenumerated labor for market production in support of a family business, that is, unreported family workers. These individuals are identified as not having a reported occupation, but are likely to be working on the basis of the self-employment occupation of other relatives in their households. Family workers are classified into three categories: farm, merchant, and craft. The inclusion of this category of workers more than triples the free female labor force participation rate in the 1860 Census, from 16 percent to 56 percent, which is comparable to today's rate (57 percent in 2018).

Keywords: unreported family workers; unpaid workers; occupational attainment; labor force participation; women; 1860 Census (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J16 J21 J82 N31 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 37 pages
Date: 2020-06
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-his, nep-iue and nep-lab
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Published - published as 'Women at work in the United States since 1860: An analysis of unreported family workers' in: Explorations in Economic History, 2021, 82, 101406

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Working Paper: Women at Work in the Pre-Civil War United States: An Analysis of Unreported Family Workers (2020)
Working Paper: Women at Work in the Pre-Civil War United States: An Analysis of Unreported Family Workers (2020)
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