UNMET NEED FOR THE UTILIZATION OF WOMEN’S LABOR: FINDINGS FROM THREE IMPOVERISHED COMMUNITIES IN OUTER BEIRUT, LEBANON

This paper examines cause-specific labor force non-participation among women living in three impoverished communities on the outskirts of Beirut, Lebanon. It uses an expanded labor force utilization framework, separating the socially discouraged from other labor nonparticipants. This study is based on data from a sample survey of some 2699 households, carried out in 2002. The analysis is limited to women between the ages of 15-59 which yields a total of 3813 women, 9% of whom reported to be socially discouraged from seeking employment. Descriptive and bivariate analysis of the affect of the independent variables chosen is first investigated. A multinomial logit model is then fitted to the data in order to uncover the impact of individual and household characteristics on the socially discouraged group as well as women labor force participation. The focus is on covariates pertaining to both women respondents and their spouses (heads of household in other household domains), but several other human-capital, demographic and socio-economic factors are also included. Our findings overall indicate a strong influence of social and demographic factors on discouragement. These include residence, marital status, households with children and experience. Surprisingly, education of the household head and women, presence of children and income have no noticeable influence on social discouragement.