The influence of female labour force participant on children’s decision to allocate time to study or work in rural Vietnam

Abstract

This study leverages the Vietnam Household Living Standards Survey 2018 dataset. It employs the Multinomial Logistic regression approach to investigate the intricate association between the working time of mothers and the time allocation of their children towards performing household chores, studying, or joining the workforce. Our results reveal that an increase in maternal working hours positively correlates with an increase in the children’s schooling attendance. Moreover, our analysis highlights the impact of various factors such as age, educational level, household size, assets, and ethnicity on children’s decision-making regarding time allocation within the family. These findings make notable contributions to the empirical literature on female labor and child allocation decisions and suggest policy implications for the government and local authorities to foster education among children since investing in children’s education is crucial for shaping the future of the nation.