Does Digital Economy Improve Female Employment in Pakistan? An Empirical Investigation using Autoregressive Distributed Lag Model

Abstract

Researchers in recent days are found studying digital economy putting special emphasize on its different dimensions. From this renewed attention, this study undertakes a research agenda to investigate the impact of digital economy on female employment in Pakistan based on time series data from 1990 to 2021. The digital economy is measured by five different variables i.e., subscriptions for fixed telephones, subscriptions for fixed broadband, subscriptions for mobile phones, secure internet servers, and individuals using the internet. To obtain empirical outcomes, this study uses the ARDL. The empirical evidence shows that there is a positive association between female employment and digital economy in both short and long run. It also finds that digital economy and control variables explain 91% of the variability in female employment. Similarly, few control variables (education, fertility rate and GDP) used in the study have also resulted in positive relations with female employment. ECM reports the speed of adjustment of 74 percent from disequilibrium to equilibrium. The principal implication of our findings directs that Pakistan can empower females by upgrading its digital infrastructure and presence. The study suggests that Pakistan needs to ensure enough funds available for supporting digital innovation in public services and improving access to the internet by regulating prices which will engage female counterparts to get benefitted from the digital divide.