Research Paper on Parental Preference & Labor Force: Examining Albania's Positive Impact

This paper attempts to focus on the impact of fertility and parentage on the involvement of one in the labor force in a country that is thriving. (Cahuc, Carcillo, & Zylberberg, 2014). In the attempt to put into consideration the issue about productivity and its impact on labor, I use the scenario of the parental preference in Albania for having sons as a source of differentiation in the labor market. Following this study, I find that there is positivity in the participation of parents who have had an additional child to the labor market. It is estimated that there is an increase in labor supply for mothers in terms of the total number of hours worked in a week and the possibility of toiling away from the farms. Additionally, a father who works away from the farms tends to have a higher chance of wanting to sire a second child.

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Introduction

In economics, the relationship between fertility and parental supply of labor has been for a long time been a topic of interest. Most of the researches about the effect of productivity in the labor market are related to the outcomes from the focus on women who are on the supply of labor in the market. (Cahuc, et al.; 2014). Various rationales can be applied to justify this specific interest. First, in the second half of the twentieth century in developing states women labor supply, and the ability to sire children generally declined. Secondly, researches argue that the male-female labor supply difference or the difference in wages can be related to the interruption that is present in women due to several reasons, among them childbearing as well as other responsibilities that come along with the family responsibilities and raising their children.

Nevertheless, few scientific pieces of evidence are present about the impact that fertility and childbirth on the labor sector. The setting for analyzing this issue might be mere critical due to a variety of reasons. First, in most countries that are developing, there is an underrepresentation of women at higher levels in the labor sector which significantly make them have more engagement to family responsibilities. Some of these responsibilities may include, bringing up children, caring for their husbands as well as other duties. The second reason could be the level of diversity in the patterns of the labor in the third world countries which uncovers the additional aspects of inequality of labor results. The third reason is that most developing states reduced by almost a half in total rates of fertility which has a link to the increase in the levels of education due to the provision of different family planning methods. (Hofmann, & Hohmeyer, 2013).References Summary

Several theories have been composed, and several types of research conducted to attempt to illustrate the impacts of fertility and labor supply. This is according to one of my sources, Wikipedia. It provides that most of the researches have their focus on the quantity of labor on women which have to find some negativism in the relationship between the number of children and the participation in the labor market. (Cahuc, et al.; 2014).According to an article that was printed in the NY Times, it finds out that more scientific investigations are done and several others are still ongoing about the correlation between women and childbearing and how it influences the labor supply in the market. Additionally, the article reveals that more studies are being directed to the male labor supply. (Cahuc, et al.; 2014). However, only a few studies are probing the influence of fertility on the men as well as in the female supply of labor in the developing nations.

According to an article by Browning (1992), it argues that irrespective of a large number of publications, he finds a negative correlation between the fertility and the level of parental participation in the labor market. These two variables do not, however, evaluate an effect that may be caused by endogeneity issues.

Background

In the middle of the twentieth century, the time when several of what was considered as modern family planning methods were introduced to the developing nation of Albania. During this time, Albania was a committed republic which was a stronghold of the socialist ideology. The ideology was the pro-nationalistic policy which prohibited and discouraged the procurement of abortion. Albania, being a communist believed that a larger population would have a positive effect on the economy of the country as more people would get involved in working which would generate income leading to the growth of the economy.

For this reason, the communist government of Albania embarked on an active mission of restricting and controlling the use of the modern methods of family planning. (Hofmann, & Hohmeyer, 2013). The control was in an attempt to promote more childbirth which the government believed was vital for the growth of the economy of this country. This paper uses Albania as a case study for the research on the positivism of fertility and parental involvement in the labor market and its influences. (Cahuc, et al.; 2014).

After the end of the Second World War, the population of Albania was low at about 1.1 million people. This was a small number which would labor and their work to bear fruits of economic development. In the year 1990, the communist ideology in this nation collapsed, and by this time, the population had grown by up to three times within a short period of less than 45year. The community had grown up to 3.3 million people. The total rate of fertility among the citizens had been raised to six children per woman by the year 1950. Furthermore, in 1960, Albania had the highest fertility rate in Europe with a scale of 7 children per woman. (Hofmann, & Hohmeyer, 2013). The rise of the families and the general population of Albania during the 1950s and 1960 was a reflection of the experience of how many countries in Europe during this time had registered a drastic increment in their total population as well as the number of families rising significantly across all the states.

Although Albania had registered an increased population growth and fertility rate, the last fifty years were marked with a significant decline in the population growth as well as the fertility rate. The scale had fallen from 7 children per woman to as low as one child per woman by the year 2012.

Without the family planning methods and abortion in place, this suggests that other policies of the economy especially those that have an involvement in social motives in the state might have had a direct influence on the fertility in Albania. (Hofmann, & Hohmeyer, 2013). Some of the social agendas in this state that the government had given priorities were education. An example, the improvement in the education structure had more objectives on empowering women. The move by the Albanian government of improving the education standards facilitated a positive transition from a country that had a high level of illiteracy in 1945 to a country with the high level of literate people at about 92% in the year 1989. (Cahuc, et al.; 2014).After the collapse of communist policy in Albania, the fertility rate dramatically reduce due to advancement and formulation of legislation that tend to control the shift to a more modern society that has more of its focus on the market. The law on the legalization of abortion in Albania as well as the availability of advanced family planning has facilitated the decline in the population growth as well as reduced fertility level. The future of the labor supply depends on the population especially the young generation. Reduced birthrates have a negative impact on the availability of labor in the market.

The openness of politics that took place in 1990, more people were allowed to move out of the country to other countries. As a result, the massive emigration that occurred within a short time where the productive groups were involved had an impact on the labor market. The reproductive age was also required in the massive emigration which went further to reduce the population growth as well as the labor supplies that are crucial in the building of an economy. While the attempt towards building a market economy which has an association with the exclusion of the broader community and more specifically the women. The move has then led to the generation of undesirable results in the time of lack of employment as well as lack of economic growth. The fall of industries in Albania had a dramatic impact on unemployment and more so affected the women.

During the era of shift, Albania has developed a new strategy which involves fertility as compared to the communist era. The drastic decline in the labor population, as well as the fertility rates of the women, might have caused a shortage in the supply of workers. . (Hofmann, & Hohmeyer, 2013). The decline can be attributed to availability and the use of contraceptives leading to an increase in women unemployment levels. Besides, the migrations, as well as the economic crises, are some of the various reasons for the decline in fertility rates among women which also has consequences on labor supply and the overall development of the economy of the nation. During the era of communist policies in Albania, the supply of labor was characterized by the regulation of personal decision making and an increased level of centralization. During this regime, socio-economic systems were promoting the parity between both men and women in terms of labor supply and employment.

The communist era was focusing primarily on the employment of women, and therefore the government was issuing assistance to the families through the policies affecting the economic and social lives. Some of the support that the government was providing was the child care benefits as well as maternity leave schemes which were all in the efforts of encouraging women to bear more children to support the labor market that was struggling with the problem of inadequate supply of workers. (Hofmann, & Hohmeyer, 2013). Additionally, in support of the children and their mothers, the government made plans and started issuing essential products as per the needs of the children as a subsidized cost. The responsibility of childcare shifted from their mother to the government, and this was in a move to try to absorb the women to the labor market now that they had been freed from the responsibilities of childcare. In the year 1989, the female who was in the labor sphere had significantly increased up to around 72% which was a plus as compared to the number of women in the labor market in 1960.

Albania was undergoing rapid political, economic, social and demographic transformations in the 1990s after communist ideology failed. The labor market was also affected to some extent where liberalization was taking its toll where several public entities that were under the ownership and management of the state were privatized as well. A high level of unemployment followed the collapse of the communist policies in Albania due to a massive shutting down of huge industries that were offering employment. (King, & VULLNEtaRI, J. U. L. I. E. 2013). The labor force involved in the labor sector was also on a decline. The labor force participation decline was much experienced in women than in men.

During the period of transition in Albania, there has been an immediate withdrawal of the females from the labor market due to a variety of reasons. Some of these reasons include the collapse of national enterprises which had a large population of the laborers being the women. These enterprises were failing because of their inability to function correctly. Secondly, the state's economy was declining, and this undermined its ability to support...