Women's job search in the well-developed countries of North Europe

Gender equality is certainly a key factor in contributing to the social progress and economic growth of a country and its influential role is most directly illustrated in the female labour force participation. The increase in women’s educational attainment, the changing in their social attitudes and preferences, the improved labor market opportunities due to the tertiarization of the economy, the desire of keeping higher standards of living and the need of economic independence in response to the rise of couple relationship instability (Blau et al., 2010) are only a few of “push” factors of women's job search propensity. After a close examination of socio-economic background and market labour frameworks of European countries, the aim of this paper is to investigate the key determinants of women’s job search propensity in the six Northern countries (Denmark, Finland, Iceland, the Netherlands, Norway and Sweden) with the highest rates of female labour participation. More precisely, in the light of the main differences in the potential sample selection effect into occupation, the paper aims at interpreting differentials across these Northern economies in the behavior of women which are actively looking for a job.