This study attempts to shed new light on the instability of marriage union with emphasis on the economic or opportunity costs borne by female labor force in terms of the potential for female economic independence. Using a cross-sectional time series data from the 36 OECD member countries over 25 years, we investigate variations in divorce rate primarily through changes in the labor force characteristics such as the share of female labor force, female employment opportunities, and the human capital potential of female labor force. Our fixed effects estimation results show that the amount of education acquired by female labor force is positively correlated with divorce rates while female unemployment rate and the gender gap between male and female in employment opportunities are negatively correlated with divorce rates.

Keywords:
Fixed effects model, divorce rate, labor force, unemployment rate, opportunity cost.