Previous research has shown that people with higher cognitive skills (mental abilities) and socioemotional skills (behaviors and personality) get better labor market outcomes. It is unclear, however, if this conclusion applies to low- and middle-income countries, given that existing literature...

Aspirations have become a common theme in empirical economics studies, but there is no unified understanding of the range of outcomes they influence, the factors that shape them, and how to measure them. This paper surveys this growing literature. The paper argues that there is compelling...

One in three Indonesian women have experienced Gender-Based Violence (GBV) in their lifetime. The Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic may further exacerbate the risks of GBV. First, additional stress due to health risks and economic uncertainty is likely to trigger conflict within family. Second,...

Migrant workers are a key part of Indonesia’s economy. The equivalent of almost 7 percent of Indonesia’s labor force, an estimated 9 million people, work overseas and in 2016, over IDR 159 trillion (US dollar 11.2 billion) was sent back to Indonesia in the form of remittances. However,...

In this brief, the authors explore whether lack of access to childcare is a constraint to female labor force participation (LFP) in Indonesia, a country where female LFP lags far below the regional average. Using household and labor force survey data, we find that low female LFP is linked to...

Agriculture is the predominant economic activity in Timor-Leste, with more than 80 percent of households engaged in at least minor farming work, with 70 percent of farmers over the age of 401. Despite its leading role in the livelihoods of Timorese households, the agricultural sector has not...

Female labor force participation (FLFP) in Indonesia lags behind other countries in the region. Building on previous work that shows that unmet childcare needs are associated with low FLFP in Indonesia, here, we look at the impact of childcare availability on FLFP. The findings suggest that an...

Vietnam has achieved important progress in closing the gender gap in education and increasing women’s labor force participation. However, are women’s labor market opportunities on par with those of men? We analyze the gender earnings gap and establish that women’s propensity to work in...

Differences in earnings between male and female workers persist in developed and developing countries despite a narrowing of gender gaps in educational attainment over the past half-century. This paper examines the gender wage gap in Vietnam and shows that a nontrivial part of the gap is...

We examine the gender wage gap in Vietnam and show that a non-trivial part of the gap is associated with occupational sorting. We consider three explanations for why occupational sorting emerges. First, we explore whether occupational sorting is driven by gender differences in preferences for...