Resumen de Female labour force participation in the 1980s: the case of Spain

Manuel Arellano, Olympia Bover

• This paper is motivated by the large increase in the labour force participation of prime age women that, like in many other countries, took place in Spain during the last decade. We develop an empirical time series participation equation for women aged 25-44, in which education and fertility are treated as endogenous variables. We regard participation, education and fertility as variables that jointly respond to changes in the demand for skilled non-physical labour and the wage structure. Although we find a significant business cycle effect on participation, we conclude that the dominant forces determining the increase in participation during the sample period were structural factors that shifted female earnings potential.