GEOGRAPHICAL VARIATION IN FEMALE LABOR-FORCE PARTICIPATION - AN APPLICATION OF MULTILEVEL MODELING

This paper examines the impact of geographical area on women's employment status by investigating whether variations in full-time and part-time working among women exist across Travel-to-Work Areas (TTWAs). It is established that stage of life-course and ethnic group are important individual-level variables in influencing female labour force participation. These variables are then included, along with an area based variable, in a multilevel analysis. The aim of this analysis is to establish whether spatial variations in female full-time and part-time working exist after controlling for life-course stage and ethnic group and whether they can be explained by area-level variables. It is found that variation across TTWAs exists after controlling for these individual level variables and that this variation can be considerably reduced by introducing area-level variables.