Life-Cycle Labor Supply of Married Women and Family Income Inequality in Malaysia
Author(s)
Amin, Shahina
Abstract
Using the first and second Malaysian Family Life Surveys, the paper analyzes the life-cycle variation in the labor supply of married women and the impact of this variation on family income inequality. Using the coefficient of variation as an indicator of income inequality and different counterfactuals, the empirical results show that women’s earnings equalize family income inequality. Among women who are in their child-bearing and child-rearing years, rural women increase the magnitude of the equalizing effect, while urban women increase the dispersion a little. In the post child-bearing and child-rearing years, all women decrease family income inequality and the magnitude of the equalizing effect increases. To carry out this investigation, the paper traces the growth of labor force participation and earnings of married women from 1976 to 1988.
