Early Child Stunting and Gender Inequalities in Work Participation among Young Filipino Adults

Paulita L. Duazo, University of San Carlos
Maria Perla A. Hamoy, University of San Carlos

We examine the relationship of early child stunting and young adult labor market participation when the transition from full time schooling to work occurs and when work represents ‘learning experiences’ or a ‘stepping stone’ to a better job. We use data from 1534 working young adult participants in the Cebu (Philippines) Longitudinal Health and Nutrition Survey. Work type is defined using the workers’ reports of the several dimensions of job demands, minimum education requirement and presence of physical exertion in the job. We use cluster analysis to identify work type and ordered logistic regression to determine relationships of stunting to work type. Controlling for child and household and community characteristics, findings show that the ordered log-odds of a female young adult to be in a higher work type is increased with a higher HAZ at young age. No such significant association is observed in males.