LINK BETWEEN EXPORT, FEMALE EMPLOYMENT AND PRODUCTIVITY: EMPIRICAL EVIDENCE FROM BHUTAN

Abstract

Influence of export orientation on overall employment level is a fairly well-established fact but its impact on female employment and gender wise differences in productivity is not yet very well established.  Using a Cross-sectional data of 164 Bhutanese manufacturing units, this study finds that female employment intensity in export-oriented Bhutanese manufacturing industry is not only low as compared to domestic market-oriented firms but it also declines as the share exports rises. Case wise, standard Cobb-Douglas production function establishes that productivity of female labour is only marginally higher in export-oriented units. Female labour in Bhutan is trapped in a catch 22 situation- lower employment intensity combined with lower productivity in export-oriented units as well as in the domestic market-oriented firms.