Labor Supply, Hourly Imbalances and Household consumption in Cameroon

Abstract This paper studies two things: first, the impact of observed labor supply constraints on the welfare of household members and, second, break down the different work times dysfunctions by comparing observed hours to the hours actually desired by individuals. Using ECAM IV data from 2014 and a discrete choice collective labour supply model, it arrives at the following results: (i) the unemployment and underemployment constraint negatively impacts household consumption and thus their material well-being; (ii) on the 25.53% of unemployed women, nearly 25% of them are forced into unemployment or inactivity. On the contrary, on the 2.54% of unemployed men, none of them wishes to remain inactive or unemployed; (iii) nearly one woman over four (26%) and one man over five (20%) are forced into underemployment. JEL code : I1 ; D6 ; J2 ; C25