ABSTRACT

This chapter examines the consistency problem. It focuses on the unemployment rate should be modelled as an identity and the labor force participation rates should be modelled as behavioral equations. The chapter discusses the specifications, data and estimation results of the labor force participation rate equations. The labor market is the key link between the economic and demographic variables of a model. Standard economic theory says that the labor force participation rate should be directly related to wages and inversely related to non labor income. Several studies have found that the inflation rate has significant influence on the labor force participation rate. Age-sex specific participation rates should ideally be modelled as functions of age-sex specific independent variables. The participation rate of 18-44 year old females, for example, should be a function of the wage rate that 18-44 year old females receive.