Impact of Human and Social Capital on Women’s earning: Implications for Home Based and Outdoor Workers

Abstract

The objective of this study is to explore the effect of human and social capital on women’s earning. The cross-sectional data was collected from 1227 working women both home based and outdoor, residing in urban and rural areas of Multan Division (Pakistan). The extended form of Mincerian earning function was estimated for home based and outdoor workers and results indicates that the coefficient of age, education, training, presence of basic health unit, education of closed relatives, strong family ties and formal ties have significant positive influence on earnings. While the coefficient of presence of disease and distance is negative. For procurement of raw material, the role of middleman is insignificant, has no effect on women’s earnings. Moreover, the coefficients of head of household, ownership of assets, number of children, number of dependents, location, marital status, family setup and awareness about labor laws positively related with earnings. Women who are more satisfied with their work are more likely to work overtime for more earnings. It is recommended that human capital be prioritized by investing additional resources in health care, improving access to higher education and provision of free technical and vocational trainings specifically for home based workers to improve earnings which reduce poverty and put the economy on a path of increased growth and development.