This paper examines the impact of education and fertility on female labor force participation and employment choice in Ghana within the framework of the foundational theory of time allocation by Becker, (1965). The paper utilizes data from the Ghana Living Standards Survey (GLSS 7 ) conducted in 2017. Both probit and multinomial probit estimation techniques are adopted. The paper finds that contrary to theoretical conclusions, fertility increases the probability of female labor force participation in Ghana, while it has no significant effect on the employment choice of females. Education generally increases the probability of labor force participation and also increases the probability of formal sector employment. The effect of fertility on labor force participation is also found to decrease with more years of education. The paper recommends a closer look at the labor market characteristics of developing countries because they may present peculiar conditions that will defy theoretical predictions.

Keywords: Labor force, fertility, probit, multinomial probit.