(DP 1979-10) Education and the Labor Force Participation of Married Women: West Malaysia 1970

Abstract

With West Malaysia as the empirical setting, this paper examines the effect of wife's education on her labor force participation holding husband's income, age, race, and location of residence constant. Using cross-sectional data drawn from the 1970 Post Enumeration Survey, the results are not unlike those found in the Philippines where below some income and education thresholds, the marginal effect of education is negative and is positive beyond. These observed results suggest that the conventional analysis of wife's labor force participation requires modification in a setting where income are below subsistence levels.