Gender, Employment, and Migration

Joyce P. JacobsenWesleyan University

9 December 2005Rabat, Morocco

Topics Statistical comparisons Extensions to standard analysis

Research wish list

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?

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

Female/male LFP rates and ratios

Female rate

Male rate

Female/ male ratio

Morocco 43.6% 82.4% 0.53

Tunisia 39.5% 82.6% 0.48

Algeria 31.2% 79.4% 0.39

Unemployment rates and ratios

Overall rate

Female/male rate ratio

Algeria 29.8% 0.88

Morocco 17.7% 1.00

Tunisia 15.4% 0.94

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

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

Maternal mortality rates have dropped, but still high Tunisia 120, Algeria 140, Morocco 220

compare to Spain 5, U.S. 14, France 17

Fertility rates have dropped sharply

1980 2004

Algeria 6.7 2.5

Morocco 5.4 2.8

Tunisia 5.2 2.0

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

Infant mortality rates have a gender gap

Males Females

Morocco (1992)

68.6 57.4

Tunisia (1988)

56.3 54.7

France (2001)

5.4 4.1

Under-five mortality rates have a gender gap

Males Females

Tunisia 27 21

Morocco 40 38

Algeria 45 36

Life expectancy rising, gender gap widening

Female 1982

Male 1982

Female 2003

Male 2003

Tunisia

64 61 74 70

Algeria

60 58 72 69

Morocco

60 56 73 69

But healthy life expectancy calculation narrows gender gap

Female Male Gap

Tunisia 63.6 61.3 2.3

Algeria 61.6 59.7 1.9

Morocco 60.9 59.5 1.4

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

Female Male

Tunisia 36.9 16.9

Algeria 40.4 22.0

Morocco 61.7 36.7

Female/male school enrollment ratios have narrowed

PrimarySecondar

yTertiary

Tunisia 0.96 1.05 0.97

Algeria 0.92 1.08 0.70

Morocco 0.87 0.80 0.80

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%

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%

Indexes of Development HDI GDI (gender-disaggregated HDI) GEM (gender empowerment measure)

FEM (female endangerment measure)

Indices

HDI rank(out of 177)

GDI rank(out of 144)

GEM rank(out of 94)

Algeria 107 88 74

Morocco 126 102 72

Tunisia 91 76 78

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

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

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

Closing the remaining education gender gap is doable

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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