World War I and Female Labor Force Participation: The Case of England and Wales

Victor Gay () and Benjamin Milner ()
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Victor Gay: IAST - Institute for Advanced Study in Toulouse, TSE-R - Toulouse School of Economics - UT Capitole - Université Toulouse Capitole - Comue de Toulouse - Communauté d'universités et établissements de Toulouse - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement
Benjamin Milner: University of Alberta

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Abstract: Combining district-level measures of World War I military fatalities with full-count census microdata, we show that wartime mortality increased postwar female labor force participation in England and Wales. Women shifted away from traditionally female occupations, while military deaths increased the shares of single and widowed women, whose participation rates were higher. Yet the overall effect of military mortality on postwar female labor force participation remained modest. A harmonized comparison with France suggests that stronger internal migration in England and Wales rapidly dissipated local marriage-and labor-market imbalances, while more generous pensions for war widows weakened their labor supply response.

Keywords: World War I; Female labor force participation; England and Wales (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026-09-01
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