Young Women’s Transition from Education to Work in the Caucasus and Central Asia

This article analyzes the individual- and family-level factors that pave the way to the labor market and to formal sector jobs for young women in the Caucasus and Central Asia. Retrospective life history data from a 2017 survey in Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Tajikistan show that higher education attainment has a strong positive impact on labor market activity and getting a formal sector job. Early family formation drives young women into inactivity, but it does not limit the chances of getting access to the formal sector. The chances of getting a formal sector job are positively influenced by the social resources of parents in Georgia and Tajikistan and by parents’ economic resources in Azerbaijan and Georgia. Evidence about the role of economic need and of traditionalism for women’s labor market participation is mixed.