Empirical analysis to determine the labor productivity of female Home-Based workers in Punjab, Pakistan

Abstract

Abstract

In Pakistan, the female labor force participation rate is 22.0% & almost 36% of employed females are engaged in the informal economy & the majority of them are home-based workers (HBWs). As per the UN-Women report, HBWs (65% of them are women) contributed nearly Rs. 400 billion through their earnings to the economy. This figure is about 3.8% of the total GDP in the year 2013-14.  Although they have a massive contribution to the informal economy, they are overlooked & not included in the mainstream market economy. They are confronting with inter-generational poverty as their earnings have not been instrumental in reducing their poverty level. There is an immense need to enhance their capacity for better productivity & improved living st&ards. Against this backdrop, the basic objective of this study is to empirically investigate the role of four factors namely, (1) human capital (2) middle man (3) social capital, & (4) awareness of laws in determining labor productivity of female HBWs in Punjab. The dataset of “The Punjab Home-Based Workers Survey 2016” collected by the Bureau of Statistics Punjab, has been used for analysis. It is found that the labor productivity of those female HBWs is higher who have awareness of labor laws, a higher level of education, received training, participated in industrial exhibitions, & don’t rely on middlemen for procurement of the raw material. This study results provide evidence to suggest policy implications & enforcement of laws concerning HBWs for their economic empowerment.