Studies of the labour supply of Australian women: What have we learned?

Economic theory suggests that women's labour supply decisions can be understood through the careful modelling of their preferences for work and leisure and of the constraints that they face. Potential factors that influence this decision-making process might be of an economic, demographic or institutional nature. The present paper reviews the empirical evidence on the influence of these factors on women's labour supply in Australia. It shows that while there is a broad consensus in some areas, there is generally a wide range of findings in relation to each potential determinant of labour supply. Moreover, this does not seem to have been narrowed by the use of more sophisticated methodology.