Breadwinner or Caregiver? How Household Role Affects Labor Choices in Mexico
Recent volatility in the Mexican economy, has required households to alter patterns of participation in the labor force, voluntarily or not. The author uses panel data to examine patterns of labor force entry among adult men, and women with differe...
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| Language: | English en_US |
| Published: |
World Bank, Washington, DC
2014
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| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2001/12/1662736/breadwinner-or-caregiver-household-role-affects-labor-choices-mexico http://hdl.handle.net/10986/19399 |
| Summary: | Recent volatility in the Mexican
economy, has required households to alter patterns of
participation in the labor force, voluntarily or not. The
author uses panel data to examine patterns of labor force
entry among adult men, and women with different household
responsibilities, asking whether gender is a primary
determinant, shaping these patterns. She finds that labor
supply patterns are driven more by household role, than by
gender. Heads of households, regardless of sex, behave
similarly. Women who have neither spouses, nor children
behave more like men, than like married women. They are also
more likely than any other group to have inflexible,
higher-paying jobs in the formal sector - which raises the
question: Do employers discriminate, based on gender, or on
household structure? She also detects a strong added-worker
effect among secondary workers, a result not detected in the
labor markets of developed countries that have social
insurance programs. Finally she finds that wives'
choice of sector during downturns, is subject to the
households' earning needs, that husbands use informal
wage, or contract employment as an employer of last resort,
only in response to negative income shocks to the household,
and that single mothers do not select the informal sector
over the formal sector in response to either expected, or
realized negative income shocks. The policy implications?
Interventions that target women aren't necessarily
appropriate, because women are heterogeneous. And programs
that aid household heads - male or female - should be
directed toward employment that will last beyond the
economic shock. |
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