FEMALE LABOR-FORCE PARTICIPATION AND THE CHOICE OF OCCUPATION - THE SUPPLY OF TEACHERS

This paper examines the relationship between occupational choice and p articipation decisions by women. It is motivated by recent policy deba te in the U.K. concerning the supply of teachers where about sixty per cent of teachers are female and the recruitment of women is vital to the maintenance of the labour force in teaching. Models of earnings de termination, occupational choice and labour force participation are es timated for a large sample of female graduates. The choice of occupati on and labour market status is modelled as a joint decision between: ( i) teaching and non-teaching; and (ii) working and not-working. Estima tes from alternative models show that participation decisions are corr elated with occupational choice, with individuals who choose teaching being more likely to work. The choice of occupation is also affected b y the earnings differential between teaching and non teaching suggesti ng that teacher shortages could be alleviated by raising teacher's ear nings.