A Cross‐Section Analysis of the Labour Force Participation of Married Women in Australia

Paul Miller and Paul A. Volker

The Economic Record, 1983, vol. 59, issue 1, 28-42

Abstract: ‘In a time when whales and seals are classified as endangered species, babies also seem to be an endangered species ˙˙˙ with so many mothers in the workforce our population growth has dropped below zero and I think the Federal government should counter that trend˙˙˙˙ Babies born in Australia are our best new Australians.’ (Senator Florence Bjelke‐Petersen in a speech to the Women's Action Alliance, reported in the Canberra Times, 3 June 1981.) The paper examines the labour supply of married women in Australia using data from the 1974 Census of Population and Housing. A number of approaches to modeling are employed. In the first instance OLS equations are estimated. These estimates are compared with instrumental variable estimates endogenizing wage rates. and with estimates from a three‐equation system endogenizing fertility as well as wages. The evidence suggests that many of the factors proposed by modern theory do exercise significant influences in anticipated directions on the labour supply of married women in Australia.

Date: 1983
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