Drawing on HILDA panel data, this study estimates the influences affecting married women’s participation in the labour force and how this changes with changes in their lives.

The analysis provides useful estimates of parameters that assist in predicting how changes in these well-known factors affect labour force participation. It finds that there is no inherent state dependence in labour force status for married women, but rather that the observed inertia arises from unobserved individual characteristics.

This study extends a line of research that the Commission has developed over the last few years on the factors influencing labour supply decisions in various segments of the labour market.