An analysis of the factors affecting women's decision to participate in the informal sector of Iloilo City

Abstract

The study looked into the factors affecting women’s decision to participate in either the informal or the formal sector in the City Proper district of Iloilo City. The study has 126 respondents who were randomly chosen from the four barangays of Iloilo City proper namely; General Hughes, Ortiz, Rizal Pala-Pala I, and Rizal Pala- Pala II. Fifty percent of the respondents were women who are working in the informal sector as they are the focus of the study. The other half of the respondents is the women working in the formal sector of the economy. The dependent variable is a dichotomous variable assuming the value of 1 if the respondent prefers working in the informal sector and 0 if otherwise. The independent variable identified for the study are the: age of the respondent, number of years in school, number of children below 7 years of age in the household, civil status, household size, status in the household, household annual income, respondent’s other sources of income. The equation was estimated using binary logistic regression. Multivariate analysis revealed that age of respondent, number of years schooling, number of children below 7 years of age in the household and the status in household are significant within the 5% level of significance. Moreover, the chi- square value of 40.88 which is also significant at 5% level shows that the model is significant in determining the factors affecting the decision to participate in either the informal or the formal sector.