Western Balkans: Increasing Women's Role in the Economy

IMF Working Papers, September 1, 2017

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Western Balkans: Increasing Women's Role in the Economy

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Bibliographic details

• Authors: Ruben V Atoyan, Jesmin Rahman
• Published: September 1, 2017
• Series: IMF Working Papers
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.5089/9781484315569.001

Overview and research question

• The Western Balkan countries have some of the lowest female labor force participation and employment rates across Europe.
• Almost two-thirds of working age women in the region are either inactive or unemployed.
• The paper uses both macro- and micro-level data to explore what explains low participation and employment rates among women in the region.

Key findings

• Improving educational attainment helps improve participation of women in the labor force.
• Having a more balanced family leave policy helps improve participation of women in the labor force.
• Reducing the tax wedge helps improve participation of women in the labor force.
• These measures alone are not enough to notably improve employability of women; stronger growth supported by robust institutions is required to materially increase female employability.

Policy implications and recommendations

• Strengthen policies that raise educational attainment for women.
• Design family leave policies that are more balanced to support women's labor force participation.
• Reduce tax wedge burdens that discourage female participation in the labor market.
• Pursue stronger growth and institutional reforms to improve employability of women, beyond measures that affect participation alone.