Middle-Income Countries, 2000s–2010s

being continuously replaced by newer, younger workers. This is not the case in other industries, such as education, where the average age of females has declined.

Although apparel attracts women into the labor force, younger females seem less likely to go into apparel because the share of employment has not increased over time, yet the average age and marriage rates have increased. But if FLFP has remained stable, women must be going into other industries. When looking at the youngest age group of females (15–25 years), crop and animal production and apparel are the top employers in all our country cases, followed by either retail or education. Retail is one of the top three employers of this group in Cambodia, Sri Lanka, Turkey, and Vietnam.

Female apparel workers are younger than the overall female average across all industries and countries. Although the average age of female apparel workers increased over time (as shown in table 2.5), that age remains under 30 in Bangladesh, Cambodia, and Pakistan. When a country has maintained a younger average age of female workers in an industry over time, that suggests that its comparative advantage is based on labor costs, because younger females have less experience and are more likely to work for lower wages. It may also suggest that apparel is the only opportunity available for women with less than lower-secondary education. Thus, it is not surprising that the two countries most dependent on apparel exports and competing largely based on low wages—Bangladesh and Cambodia—also have the youngest workers. In Sri Lanka, Turkey, and Vietnam, the largest share of females in the apparel industry are 31–45 years old, whereas in all the other sample countries, the largest share is in the 21–30 age group.

TABLE 2.5 Average Age of Female Workers over Time in Selected Industries and Middle-Income Countries, 2000s–2010s Change in average age (in years) between first and last data year

Country Years Overall

Nonagriculture

Crop and animal production Apparel Retail Education Bangladesh 2005–16 36 to 36 33 to 33 35 to 38 25 to 27 37 to 37 33 to 32 Cambodia 2007–14 37 to 36 34 to 32 40 to 40 24 to 26 41 to 39 39 to 35 Egypt, Arab Rep. 2009–15 38 to 35 38 to 38 39 to 31 29 to 30 35 to 38 39 to 40 pakistana 2008–15 34 to 34 31 to 32 35 to 35 28 to 29 40 to 40 32 to 32 Sri lanka 2007–15 40 to 42 39 to 40 43 to 47 32 to 36 41 to 42 40 to 40 Turkey 2011–13 37 to 37 33 to 34 42 to 42 30 to 32 32 to 32 34 to 35 vietnam 2007–15 38 to 40 37 to 38 40 to 44 30 to 32 40 to 42 37 to 36

Source: labor force survey data. Note: Overall and industry columns present the average ages during the earliest year and the latest year shown in a given country’s “Years” column. a. in pakistan, the average age did not change between 2008 and 2015 in three industries: crop and animal production, retail, and education.