Norwegian female labour participation rates have increased steadily since the beginning of the seventies. This paper address several issues concerning female labour participation series for the period 1972-1997. The main purpose is to identify factors that explain the trend-like increase during the last 25 years and a possible cyclical component that is due to labour market conditions. The resulting relations for women in the age-groups 25-39 years and 40-59 years include long-run effects from wages, education and a significant cyclical component. The wage elasticity is the same for the two groups by restriction. For the older women (60-66 years) we find a higher wage elasticity. Children have a negative impact on the labour supply for female 25-39 years. We get no significant effects from the extension of the parental leave and day-care coverage. Keywords: Female labour participation rates, discouraged worker, lifetime effects, time series.
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