Women in the urban informal labour market in Pakistan: some economic and demographic implications.

In Pakistan womens labor force participation may be underestimated at 3-5% for various reasons including the difficulty of differentiating domestic from economic work. This analysis verified trends observed in small sample surveys which indicated increases in informal employment through use of the nationally representative Pakistan Integrated Household survey (PIHS) in 1990-91. Of particular interest were the employment patterns of women in the urban sector and the distinguishing characteristics of women in the formal and informal sectors. Differences in fertility outcomes contraceptive knowledge and use and childrens schooling were examined by employment status for ever-married women. The sample included 5251 ever-married women and urban areas were overrepresented. Formal-sector employment included establishments with more than 5 employees either white-collar or factory workers. Informal-sector workers were those employed outside the home unpaid helpers in the family enterprise and those earning income within the home. Findings from smaller-based surveys were summarized; the increasing concentration of women in home-based income earning activities reflected demand constraints and the influence of supply factors such a cultural taboos to outside work. The PIHS provided conclusive evidence of increasing female employment in the informal sector; this sector absorbed most of the available unskilled and uneducated women in urban areas who were usually excluded from official labor statistics. There were contraceptive and fertility differences between women in the 2 sectors. There was lower fertility among women in the formal sector than among nonworking women. The highest fertility was among those working in the informal sector even when educational status was controlled for. The explanation was that these women in the informal sector were pushed into employment because of a large family. A mothers working in the formal sector was related to children with a greater chance of currently attending school while mothers in the informal sector have children with little chance of being in school and a greater chance of dropping out of school. Female children with mothers working outside the home had a greater chance of attending school.