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30/11/2024
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Do, D. T., Nguyen, T. Q., & Vu, D. H. (2024). The impact of digital economy on women’s employment: evidence from selected European and Asian countries. Journal of International Economics and Management, 24(3), 77-96. https://doi.org/10.38203/jiem.024.3.0095
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The impact of digital economy on women’s employment: evidence from selected European and Asian countries
Main Article Content
Abstract
The rapid development of the digital economy has brought significant changes in various aspects, including production methods and the provision of services. These changes have reshaped workforce requirements and skills, presenting opportunities to enhance women’s participation in economic activities. This paper assesses the impact of the digital economy on women’s employment in several European and Asian countries. The study uses panel data encompassing 53 countries collected from the World Bank, ITU, and UNDP databases. The principal component analysis was employed to calculate a composite index measuring the development of the digital economy in these countries. This index was then used to assess the impact of the digital economy on women’s employment through regression analysis of panel data. The results indicate that the digital economy positively impacts women’s employment. However, the influence of the digital economy on women’s employment varies among countries and different income groups. Specifically, the digital economy increases women’s employment in high-income countries but has a negative impact on women’s employment in middle-income countries. Based on the findings, this study proposes recommendations to policymakers for optimizing the potential of the digital economy.
Article Details
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
Keywords
Digital economy, Women’s employment, Employment structure
References
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Ng, E. and Muntaner, C. (2018), “The effect of women in government on population health: an ecological analysis among Canadian provinces, 1976-2009”, SSM - Population Health, Vol. 6, pp. 141-148.
Nikulin, D. (2017), “The impact of ICTs on women’s economic empowerment”, in Kaur, H., Lechman, E. and Marszk, A. (Eds.), Catalyzing Development through ICT Adoption, Springer, Cham, pp. 15-24.
Nkoumou Ngoa, G.B. and Song, J.S. (2021), “Female participation in African labor markets: the role of information and communication technologies”, Telecommunications Policy, Vol. 45 No. 9, 102174.
OECD (2016), “Automation and independent work in a digital economy”, Discussion notes for the 2017 Global Strategy Group, GSG(2017)1, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, Paris.
OECD (2017), “Going digital: the future of work for women”, in The Pursuit of Gender Equality. An Uphill Battle, OECD Publishing, Paris, pp. 269-282.
Pan, W., Xie, T., Wang, Z. and Ma, L. (2022), “Digital economy: an innovation driver for total factor productivity”, Journal of Business Research, Vol. 139, pp. 303-311.
Rodríguez-Modroño, P., Pesole, A. and López-Igual, P. (2022), “Assessing gender inequality in digital labour platforms in Europe”, Internet Policy Review, Vol. 11 No. 1, 1622.
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Sovbetov, Y. (2018), “Impact of digital economy on female employment: evidence from Turkey”, International Economic Journal, Vol. 32 No. 2, pp. 256-270.
Suhaida, M.A., Nurulhuda, M.S. and Yap, S.-F. (2013), “Access to ICT as moderating factor to women’s participation in the labor force: a conceptual framework”, International Journal of Trade, Economics and Finance, Vol. 4 No. 4, pp. 197-201.
UNCTAD (2017), “The new digital economy and development”, UNCTAD Technical Notes on ICT for Development TN/UNCTAD/ICT4D/08, United Nations, New York.
Valberg, S.G. (2019), “ICT, gender, and the labor market: a cross-country analysis”, in Maiti, D., Castellacci, F. and Melchior, A. (Eds.), Digitalisation and Development, Springer, Singapore, pp. 375-405.
Verick, S. (2014), “Female labor force participation in developing countries”, IZA World of Labor, Vol. 87.
Xia, T. and Pei, J. (2021), “The impact of digital economy on employment - Thinking based on the epidemic situation in 2020”, E3S Web of Conferences, Vol. 235, 03034.
Xie, N.-Y. and Zhang, Y. (2022), “The impact of digital economy on industrial carbon emission efficiency: evidence from Chinese provincial data”, Mathematical Problems in Engineering, Vol. 2022, pp. 1-12.
Zhang, J., Zhao, W., Cheng, B., Li, A., Wang, Y., Yang, N. and Tian, Y. (2022), “The impact of digital economy on the economic growth and the development strategies in the post-COVID-19 era: evidence from countries along the ‘Belt and Road’”, Frontiers in Public Health, Vol. 10, 856142.
Asongu, S. and Odhiambo, N. (2024), “Enhancing ICT for female economic participation in Sub-Saharan Africa”, African Journal of Economic and Management Studies, Vol. 15 No. 2, pp. 195-223.
Bag, S. (2020), “Urban female labor force participation and its correlates: a comparative study of slum dwellers and their urban counterparts of three metro cities in India”, in Ochman, M. and Ortega-Díaz, A. (Eds.), Advances in Women’s Empowerment: Critical Insight from Asia, Africa and Latin America (Advances in Gender Research, Vol. 29), Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 95-126.
Blau, D.M. (1987), “A time-series analysis of self-employment in the United States”, Journal of Political Economy, Vol. 95 No. 3, pp. 445-467.
Brussevich, M., Dabla-Norris, E. and Khalid, S. (2019), “Is technology widening the gender gap? Automation and the future of female employment”, IMF Working Paper WP/19/91, International Monetary Fund, Washington D.C.
Chakravorti, B. and Chaturvedi, R.S. (2017), “Digital planet 2017: how competitiveness and trust in digital economies vary across the world”, The Fletcher School, Tufts University, Massachusetts.
Chaudhary, R. (2021), “India’s emerging gig economy: shaping the future of work for women”, Georgetown Journal of Asian Affairs, Vol. 7, pp. 50-57.
Chen, H.C.D. (2004), “Gender equality and economic development: the role for information and communication technologies”, World Bank Policy Research Working Paper Series WP3285, World Bank, Washington D.C.
Churchill, B. and Craig, L. (2019), “Gender in the gig economy: men and women using digital platforms to secure work in Australia”, Journal of Sociology, Vol. 55 No. 4, pp. 741-761.
Crossley, A.D. (2015), “Facebook feminism: social media, blogs, and new technologies of contemporary U.S. feminism*”, Mobilization: An International Quarterly, Vol. 20 No. 2, pp. 253-268.
Dabla-Norris, E. and Kochhar, K. (2018), “Women, technology, and the future of work”, International Monetary Fund, Available at https://www.imf.org/en/Blogs/Articles/2018/11/16/blog-Women-Technology-the-Future-of-Work (Accessed 21 August, 2023).
Džbánková, Z. (2017), “The female element in a digital economy”, in Loster, T. and Pavelka, T. (Eds.), Proceedings of the 11th International Days of Statistics and Economics, University of Economics, Prague, pp. 356-364.
Fortune Business Insights (2019), “Recruitment software market size, share, growth. Global report 2030”, Available at https://www.fortunebusinessinsights.com/industry-reports/recruitment-software-market-100081 (Accessed 27 May, 2023).
G20 (2016), “G20 digital economy development and cooperation initiative”, Available at https://www.mofa.go.jp/files/000185874.pdf (Accessed 28 September, 2022).
Gerring, J., Bond, P., Barndt, W.T. and Moreno, C. (2005), “Democracy and economic growth: a historical perspective”, World Politics, Vol. 57 No. 3, pp. 323-364.
Goldin, C. (1994), “The U-shaped female labor force function in economic development and economic history”, NBER Working Paper No. W4707, National Bureau of Economic Research, Rochester, New York.
Gomes, S., Lopes, J.M. and Ferreira, L. (2022), “The impact of the digital economy on economic growth: the case of OECD countries”, RAM. Revista de Administração Mackenzie, Vol. 23.
Gómez, N., Tobarra, M.-Á. and López, L.-A. (2014), “Employment opportunities in Spain: gender differences by education and ICT usage”, Regional and Sectoral Economic Studies, Vol. 14 No. 3, pp. 105-122.
Guner, N. (2021), The Effects of Financial Innovations on Female Employment, Graduate Thesis, Georgetown University, Washington D.C.
ILO (2018), Women and Men in the Informal Economy: A Statistical Picture, 3rd Edition, International Labour Office, Geneva.
ILO (2020), Asia-Pacific Employment and Social Outlook 2020, International Labour Office, Vietnam.
Islam, S. (2015), “Impact of ICT on women empowerment in South Asia”, Journal of Economic & Financial Studies, Vol. 3 No. 3, pp. 80-90.
Izaskun, Z.-B. (2022), “Robots and women in manufacturing employment”, IFSO Working Paper Series 19, University of Duisburg-Essen, Institute for SocioEconomics (IFSO), Duisburg.
Kasliwal, R. (2020), “Gender and the gig economy: a qualitative study of gig platforms for women workers”, ORF Issue Brief, Vol. 359, pp. 1-14.
Kuznets, S. (1966), Modern Economic Growth. Rate, Structure, and Spread, Yale University Press, New Haven.
Li, X., Liu, J. and Ni, P. (2021), “The impact of the digital economy on CO2 emissions: a theoretical and empirical analysis”, Sustainability, Vol. 13 No. 13, 7267.
Maji, S.K. and Laha, A. (2020), “State of digital economy in Asia-Pacific region”, International Journal of Public Administration in the Digital Age, Vol. 7 No. 2, pp. 38-54.
Moock, P.R., Patrinos, H.A. and Venkataraman, M. (2003), “Education and earnings in a transition economy: the case of Vietnam”, Economics of Education Review, Vol. 22 No. 5, pp. 503-510.
Ng, E. and Muntaner, C. (2018), “The effect of women in government on population health: an ecological analysis among Canadian provinces, 1976-2009”, SSM - Population Health, Vol. 6, pp. 141-148.
Nikulin, D. (2017), “The impact of ICTs on women’s economic empowerment”, in Kaur, H., Lechman, E. and Marszk, A. (Eds.), Catalyzing Development through ICT Adoption, Springer, Cham, pp. 15-24.
Nkoumou Ngoa, G.B. and Song, J.S. (2021), “Female participation in African labor markets: the role of information and communication technologies”, Telecommunications Policy, Vol. 45 No. 9, 102174.
OECD (2016), “Automation and independent work in a digital economy”, Discussion notes for the 2017 Global Strategy Group, GSG(2017)1, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, Paris.
OECD (2017), “Going digital: the future of work for women”, in The Pursuit of Gender Equality. An Uphill Battle, OECD Publishing, Paris, pp. 269-282.
Pan, W., Xie, T., Wang, Z. and Ma, L. (2022), “Digital economy: an innovation driver for total factor productivity”, Journal of Business Research, Vol. 139, pp. 303-311.
Rodríguez-Modroño, P., Pesole, A. and López-Igual, P. (2022), “Assessing gender inequality in digital labour platforms in Europe”, Internet Policy Review, Vol. 11 No. 1, 1622.
Segovia‐Pérez, M., Castro Núñez, R.B., Santero Sánchez, R. and Laguna Sánchez, P. (2019), “Being a woman in an ICT job: an analysis of the gender pay gap and discrimination in Spain”, New Technology, Work and Employment, Vol. 35 No. 1, pp. 20-39.
SkyQuest (2022), “Recruitment software market size, share, growth analysis, by component, industry, organization size, region - Industry forecast 2022-2028”, Available at https://www.skyquestt.com/report/recruitment-software-market (Accessed 21 August, 2023).
Sovbetov, Y. (2018), “Impact of digital economy on female employment: evidence from Turkey”, International Economic Journal, Vol. 32 No. 2, pp. 256-270.
Suhaida, M.A., Nurulhuda, M.S. and Yap, S.-F. (2013), “Access to ICT as moderating factor to women’s participation in the labor force: a conceptual framework”, International Journal of Trade, Economics and Finance, Vol. 4 No. 4, pp. 197-201.
UNCTAD (2017), “The new digital economy and development”, UNCTAD Technical Notes on ICT for Development TN/UNCTAD/ICT4D/08, United Nations, New York.
Valberg, S.G. (2019), “ICT, gender, and the labor market: a cross-country analysis”, in Maiti, D., Castellacci, F. and Melchior, A. (Eds.), Digitalisation and Development, Springer, Singapore, pp. 375-405.
Verick, S. (2014), “Female labor force participation in developing countries”, IZA World of Labor, Vol. 87.
Xia, T. and Pei, J. (2021), “The impact of digital economy on employment - Thinking based on the epidemic situation in 2020”, E3S Web of Conferences, Vol. 235, 03034.
Xie, N.-Y. and Zhang, Y. (2022), “The impact of digital economy on industrial carbon emission efficiency: evidence from Chinese provincial data”, Mathematical Problems in Engineering, Vol. 2022, pp. 1-12.
Zhang, J., Zhao, W., Cheng, B., Li, A., Wang, Y., Yang, N. and Tian, Y. (2022), “The impact of digital economy on the economic growth and the development strategies in the post-COVID-19 era: evidence from countries along the ‘Belt and Road’”, Frontiers in Public Health, Vol. 10, 856142.