Education and Labor Market Activity of Women: An Age-Group Specific Empirical Analysis

We analyze the determinants of female labor market participation for different age-groups in the European Union. We show that female participation is positively affected by tertiary education at any age. But upper secondary education increases participation only up to an age of 40 while after that it has no effect or even a negative impact The results are tested for robustness and controlled for endogeneity. The results show that increasing educational attainment levels in the female population will contribute significantly to higher aggregate participation rates. However,in simulations up to 2050 such benefits are partially offset by a negative aging effect.