The labour market participation of women in small European Union member states

Abstract

Europe 2020 employment strategy aims to increase the overall employment rates in EU countries, among others, to compensate for the predicted decline in employment rates due to the aging population. It is widely recognised that increasing the female labour force participation is the key to achieving higher overall employment rates in the EU. Their participation in the labour market has obvious positive implications for the economic welfare and growth of a state. However, women are more likely than men to be outside the labour force in all Member States. The study presents a comparative analysis of the participation of women in the labour market of five small Member States, namely Estonia, Cyprus, Luxembourg, Malta, and Slovenia. The female activity rate was compared with the male activity rate of the small Member States, and with the female activity rate in the labour market of large Member States. Small and large member states were also compared on their female participation rate and their level of education attained, in order to derive trends and relations. The data analysis indicates the positive development of women in the labour market and the positive effect of education on the female labour force in the small Member States. The results indicate that the participation of women in the labour market of the small Member States is increasing faster than that of men. The analysis also reveals that the participation of women in the small Member States is higher than that of women in the large Member States, although it is not increasing faster than that of the large Member States. Moreover, the results show that a higher education level is related to a higher participation rate of women in both small and large Member States. Furthermore, the small Member States were found to have a higher labour market participation of women with tertiary level of education when compared with the large Member States, which further indicates the positive trends in the labour market of the small Member States. The progress of women in the labour market of the small Member States indicates that those policies and measures set up by the states towards equal opportunities are enabling women's entry in the labour market. However, given the fact that small market economies are more prone to fluctuations in the labour market, more adequate training and programmes need to be established to assist women to find employment and retain it.