Female Labour Force Participation in Greece: Developments and Determining Factors

Abstract

This paper looks at developments in female labour force participation in Greece since the 1960s and attempts to identify factors that contributed to changes in the participation rate and explanations for the gap in the female participation rate between Greece and the EU-15. The analysis uses both time series data and cross-section data from the 2001 wave of the European Community Household Panel (ECHP). The results suggest that institutional, social and economic factors contributed to quantitative and qualitative changes in the role of women in the labour market after 1980 but a gap with the EU-15 in terms of participation rates still remains. The negative correlation between the number of children and the participation rate, which is clear from the sample used in the paper, together with the shortage of childcare facilities, suggests that improvements in childcare infrastructure could increase participation. Certain features of the operation of product markets could also be hindering job creation especially of part-time jobs.

Keywords: female labour force participation, institutional factors, child care, probit model

JEL Classification: E24,J21,J22