Gender, Employment, and Migration

1. Gender, Employment, and Migration Joyce P. Jacobsen Wesleyan University 9 December 2005 Rabat, Morocco

2. Topics • Statistical comparisons • Extensions to standard analysis • Research wish list

3. Statistical comparisons • How do Algeria, Morocco, and Tunisia fare relative to other countries (MENA and other regions) on a variety of standard gender-disaggregated measures? • What other measures can we calculate? • What other gender-disaggregated data would we like to see these countries collect?

4. Standard labor market benchmarks of gender equality • labor force participation rates • employment and unemployment rates • hours worked • earnings rates • occupational and industrial distribution and segregation indexes

5. Female/male LFP rates and ratios

6. Unemployment rates and ratios

7. Occupational segregation indexes • Algeria 55, Morocco 18, Tunisia 11 • Compare to range of 23 to 45 for industrialized countries • Big move out of agriculture, into services, in all three countries for both women and men

8. Standard social development benchmarks for gender equality • maternal mortality rates • fertility rates • infant and child mortality rates • life expectancy (standard and health-adjusted) • illiteracy rates • schooling rates

9. Maternal mortality rates have dropped, but still high • Tunisia 120, Algeria 140, Morocco 220 • compare to Spain 5, U.S. 14, France 17

10. Fertility rates have dropped sharply

11. Infant mortality rates have dropped, but still high • Tunisia 24 , Morocco 38, Algeria 42 • compare to France 4.5, Spain 4.5, U.S. 7

12. Infant mortality rates have a gender gap

13. Under-five mortality rates have a gender gap

14. Life expectancy rising, gender gap widening

15. But healthy life expectancy calculation narrows gender gap

16. Illiteracy rates have dropped but still high, and show gender gap

17. Female/male school enrollment ratios have narrowed

18. Also: • Ratio of military expenditure to combined public expenditure on education and health, 1986: Algeria 23%, Morocco 86%, Tunisia 82% Compare to LAC 29%, Sub-Saharan Africa 70%, South Asia 164%, MENA 166% low-income countries in general: 116%

19. And: • Armed forces as a percentage of teachers, 1986: Algeria 71%, Morocco 102%, Tunisia 55% Compare to LAC 42%, South Asia 47%, Sub-Saharan Africa 90%, MENA 183% low-income countries in general: 60%

20. Indexes of Development • HDI • GDI (gender-disaggregated HDI) • GEM (gender empowerment measure) • FEM (female endangerment measure)

21. Indices

22. FEM rank (out of 17 MENA countries) • proposed by the Economic Research Forum for the Arab Countries, Iran, and Turkey (ERF) • FEM equally weights female illiteracy, fertility, and maternal mortality rates • Tunisia 6th, Algeria 9th, Morocco 13th • compare to GEM rank: Tunisia 1st, Morocco 4th, Algeria 9th

23. Punch lines: • Investment in health and education pays off, as measured in development indexes directly, and indirectly through higher formal labor market participation for women • Increased education, decreased infant, child, and maternal mortality, decreased fertility, increased adult health all link to increased women’s labor force participation

24. Closing the remaining education gender gap is doable • Closing the remaining gender gap in primary education would be low-cost • In Morocco, < 0.4% of GNP • In Tunisia, < 0.2% of GNP • In Algeria, probably between these two figures based on enrollment numbers

25. What about migration? • All three countries are labor exporters: net migration ratios (per 1000 population) Algeria -.37 (ranked 153 of 225 countries) Tunisia -.54 (rank 160) Morocco -.92 (rank 169) • Morocco and Tunisia generate large remittance streams

26. What about migration? (contd.) • Brain drain substantial: most migrants to OECD from Morocco (65%) and Tunisia (64%) have tertiary education; migration rates for tertiary educated are over six times as high as for secondary educated But: On all these points, gender dimension is not clear Worldwide, migrants are 49% female

27. Caveats and additions to WB MENA Report • The paradox of occupational gender segregation • Taking gender seriously means also thinking about how ways in which men and boys may be disadvantaged • How to handle demilitarization? • Transnational migrant flows a mixed deal

28. Research wish list • time use data • regular, ongoing household surveys • an ongoing panel survey • better migration data • all statistics gender-disaggregated • include (even oversample) minority groups and gender-disaggregate • disaggregate by location as well

29. Exemplary commitments to gender-disaggregated data • Statistics Sweden • Statistics Canada • Philippines National Statistical Coordination Board

30. General Data Sources • ILO for labor force/employment statistics • IOM for migration statistics • UNDP for development statistics • World Bank for development statistics • WHO for health statistics

31. 4 Specific Sources • World Bank: MENA Development Report, 2004 • E. Mine Cinar (ed.) The Economics of Women and Work in the Middle East and North Africa, 2001 • FEMISE report on Maghreb textile sector, October 2005 • Sorensen paper on Moroccan remittances, June 2004

32. General Sources • Jacobsen, The Economics of Gender, 2nd edition, 1998 (3rd ed. forthcoming) • Jacobsen, “What About Us? Men’s Issues in Development,” report for the World Bank’s LAC Gender team, May 2002 (can get from my webpage: http://jjacobsen.web.wesleyan.edu) or email me at jjacobsen@wesleyan.edu