The growing significance of marriage in African labor markets: Implications for the fertility transition and inequality

Fatou Jah, Cornell University

The study of how marital transitions relate to employment is central to demography because of the linkages between marriage, employment, and women’s social status, and how all of these affect fertility transitions. Yet, no large-scale examination of the question using recent African data exists. Employing comparable nationally representative DHS data on 21 African countries and multiple statistical estimations, I examine the effect of marriage transitions on changes in women’s employment between 1991 and 2005 and quantify the observed employment changes in each country into three different components: changes in aggregate marriage, changes in employment returns to marriage, and changes in other country-specific factors. Results indicate that in the majority of the countries, the returns to marriage component rather than country-specific contextual factors is the driver of the observed employment changes, whether gains or reversals. Implications for the fertility transition, family and child wellbeing in the region are discussed.