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Published Article

Teen Fertility and Female Employment Outcomes: Evidence from Madagascar

Women represent the majority of informal workers in developing countries, especially in Sub-Saharan Africa. It is also the case that the region is characterised by high adolescent pregnancy rates. Little empirical evidence exists concerning the causal relationship between teen fertility and the likelihood of informal employment. Using longitudinal data from Madagascar designed to capture the transition from adolescence to adulthood, we estimate a multinomial logit model to capture the effect of the timing of first birth on female selection into four categories: non-participation, informal employment, formal employment, and student. To address the endogeneity of fertility and labor market outcomes, we instrument timing of first birth using women’s community-level access, and duration of exposure to family planning. Our results suggest that motherhood increases the probability of employment and that women whose first birth occurs during adolescence are mostly employed into low-quality informal jobs. This effect is partially, but not entirely, mediated by the effect of teen childbearing on schooling.

Title Teen Fertility and Female Employment Outcomes: Evidence from Madagascar
Author
  • Catalina Herrera Almanza
  • David E. Sahn
  • Kira Villa
Published in Journal of African Economies, ejy024
Publication Date 23/02/2019
Project Transitions to Adulthood
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IZA and the UK Government Department for International Development (DFID) run the joint IZA/DFID Growth and Labour Markets in Low Income Countries Programme (GLM|LIC), which aims to improve worldwide knowledge on labour market issues in low-income countries (LICs).
Gender focus Starting in mid-2019, the focus will be on gender issues especially. The new programme “Growth, Gender and Labour Markets in Low-Income Countries” (G2LM|LIC) will foster research that aims to guide future gender and labour market policies.

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Established in 1998 in Bonn, Germany, IZA is an independent, non-profit research institution supported by the Deutsche Post Foundation with a focus on the analysis of global labour markets. It operates an international network of about 1,500 economists and researchers spanning across more than 50 countries.

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