Household Labor Supply and Women′s Work in Interwar Britain

This paper uses survey evidence from interwar Britain to investigate the effects of market forces and household composition on the labor market participation of females. Historical studies of female domestic and market work patterns at that time are reviewed in order to inform the choice of explanatory variables for binary probit analysis of individual and ordered probit analysis of household participation decisions. The statistical results show that the marital status of a woman (more importantly than the presence of dependent children) lowered the participation rate. The presence of children and adult males in the household are found to reduce the probability of participation of other females in the household as does the total level of household income. Wages are found to have a positive effect on participation in market work but the elasticity appears to be lower than that for more recent times. © 1993 Academic Press, Inc.