Female labor force participation rates have been stagnating despite rising female education in sub-Saharan Africa since the turn of the millennium. Using representative and repeated census data from a heterogeneous sample of 13 sub-Saharan African countries, this paper analyzes female labor force participation from a demographic perspective. We show that enrollment in education is substantially higher among the most recent female cohorts than among the earlier-born ones. The higher enrollment mechanically depresses female labor force participation, weakening the relationship between female labor force participation and education. After taking this cohort trend into account, we find a strong and positive association between female labor force participation and female education. We further find a cohort trend toward higher female employment in the nonprimary sector and a positive association between female employment in the nonprimary sector and female education. The higher investments in education by younger female cohorts, together with the demographics of sub-Saharan African countries, have implications for a potentially arising “demographic dividend”.

中文翻译：

---

撒哈拉以南非洲女性劳动力参与：队列分析

自世纪之交以来，尽管撒哈拉以南非洲的女性教育水平不断提高，但女性劳动力参与率一直停滞不前。本文使用来自 13 个撒哈拉以南非洲国家的异质样本的具有代表性和重复性的人口普查数据，从人口统计角度分析女性劳动力参与情况。我们表明，最近出生的女性群体的教育入学率大大高于出生较早的群体。较高的入学率机械地抑制了女性劳动力参与，削弱了女性劳动力参与与教育之间的关系。考虑到这一群体趋势后，我们发现女性劳动力参与与女性教育之间存在强烈且正相关的关系。我们进一步发现非初级部门女性就业率较高的队列趋势，以及非初级部门的女性就业率与女性教育之间存在正相关关系。年轻女性群体对教育的更高投资，以及撒哈拉以南非洲国家的人口结构，对潜在的“人口红利”具有影响。