Recent Trends in Female Labor Force Participation in Turkey

The female labor force participation level in Turkey is currently very low at 27 percent compared with the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, or OECD and European Union, or EU-19 averages of 61 and 64 percent respectively. This rate has been declining in the last 30 years from a level of 48 percent in 1980. This paper looks at the most recent trends and profiles of labor force participation of women in Turkey using three different household level data sources in available Turkey (HBS, LFS and TDHS) for the period 2003-2006. The paper also reports a multivatiate analysis on the probability of working for women, controlling for various characteristics