Document Type

Article

Date of Original Version

2016

Department

Economics

Abstract

Since all macroeconomic policies are enacted within a certain set of distributive relations and institutional structures, the employment intensity of growth is likely to vary for men and women depending on the nature and context of output growth. The gendered nature of this growth-employment nexus is examined by analyzing the differential impacts that macroeconomic policies and structures have on growth’s employment intensity by gender for 80 countries from 1990-2012. Such an understanding is of particular relevance to policymakers concerned with the linkages between growth and human development, as the question of whether the benefits of economic growth are broadly shared is one that centers on the capacity of economies to generate high-quality employment. Though education levels and non-agricultural sectors are associated with more employment intensive growth for men and women, policies supporting reductions in non-wage care work, prioritizing public expenditures on education, and promoting girls’ secondary school enrollment are especially linked with growth that is more employment intensive for women. The results here illuminate broad trends through a very wide lens and should be applied in conjunction with more intimate knowledge of how cultural, technological, legal, political, and economic activities uniquely affect one another in particular countries.

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