Abstract

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The study investigates trends among women in the workforce, the implications of higher female labor force participation for economic growth, the obstacles in achieving it, and potential policies for reducing these obstacles.

This brief reports on findings from four country studies and a companion macroeconomic study calibrated using an average Asian economy. Almost 28% of the world’s working-age women are accounted for in the four selected countries: Pakistan, where female labor force participation is rising but remains very low at 25%; Indonesia, where it is relatively high for Asia but still stagnant at 51%; the People’s Republic of China (PRC), where women’s participation in the labor force has fallen in recent years to about 64% from 73% in 1990; and the Republic of Korea, where female labor force participation remains low at 50% despite high levels of economic growth and per capita income. In all these countries, male labor force participation hovers around 80% for individuals 15 years and older, except for the Republic of Korea, where male labor force participation was 72% in 2013.​