The Relation Between Female Labor Force Participation and Ferti Lity

Elizabeth Maret Havens and Jack P. Gibbs
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Elizabeth Maret Havens: Texas Tech University
Jack P. Gibbs: University of Arizona

Sociological Methods & Research, 1975, vol. 3, issue 3, 258-290

Abstract: Numerous investigators have reported evidence of an mverse relation between female labor force participation and fertility rates; but the relation has never been systematically derived from a theory, and recognition that it is neither close nor invariant complicates the matter. This paper states a theory from which the relation can be derived, and the theory extends to a testable generalization about variability in the relation. The theory asserts that the relation is contingent on the "career labor force participation" of females; briefly, the greater such participation is in a universe of populations, the more inverse is the relation between female labor force participation and fertility rates. A test based on data for Standard Metropolitan Statistical Areas (1960) is consistent with the theory.

Date: 1975
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:somere:v:3:y:1975:i:3:p:258-290

DOI: 10.1177/004912417500300302

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