Labor-force participation of married women in Turkey: a study of the added-worker effect and the discouraged-worker effect

Abstract

We analyze married women's labor-supply responses to their husbands' job loss (added-worker effect) and worsening of unemployment conditions (discouraged-worker effect). We construct six two-year pseudopanels based on the previous year's labor market outcomes using nationally representative Turkish Household Labor Force Surveys from 2005 to 2010. We find that women whose husbands involuntarily transition from employment to unemployment are more likely to participate in the labor force. We pool the six-year pseudopanels and examine the effects of aggregate employment conditions on wives' transition to the labor force. A worsening of unemployment conditions has a small discouraging effect on wives' laborsupply responses.