Geographical variation and determinants of women unemployment status in Ethiopia; A multilevel and spatial analysis from 2016 Ethiopia Demographic and Health Survey data.

Abstract

BackgroundUnemployment is a major problem in both developed and developing countries. In Ethiopia, women unemployment is particularly high, and this makes it a grave socio-economic concern. The aim of this study is to assess the spatial distribution and identify the determinant factors of women unemployment in Ethiopia.MethodsThe data used for the study is the Ethiopian Demographic and Health Surveys of 2016. A total of 15683 women are involved in the study. Global Moran's I statistic and Poisson-based purely spatial scan statistics are employed to explore spatial patterns and detect spatial clusters of women unemployment, respectively. To identify factors associated with women unemployment, multilevel logistic regression model is used.ResultsA spatial analysis showed that there was a major spatial difference in women unemployment in Ethiopia with Global Moran's index value of 0.3 (pConclusionThe unemployment rate of women in Ethiopia showed variation across different clusters. Improving entrepreneurship and women's education, sharing business experiences, supporting entrepreneurs are potential tools for reducing the unemployment women. Moreover, creating community-based programs that prioritize participation of poor households and rural women as well as improving their access to mass media and the labor market is crucial.