The participation of women in urban labor markets in Mexico: 1970-1980

This article analyzes the presence of women in urban labor markets in Mexico during the 1970s in terms of the regional location of the city and the type and diversity of employment opportunities for women. 49 cities with over 100,000 inhabitants in 1980 were grouped into 3 regions, the relatively urban and industrial north, the heterogeneous center, and the less developed south. Census data for 1970 and 1980 on male and female labor force participation in the municipios containing the 49 cities were analyzed to assess urban labor markets. The cities were grouped according to whether they had higher or lower than average rates of labor force participation in the 2 study years. The cities of the north included the greatest relative number of cases of low female and male labor force participation in 1970 and 1980 and a declining trend for the 1970s. Cities of the center had the highest levels of male and female labor force participation in both 1970 and 1980 and showed a trend toward increasing female participation in the 1970s. Cities in the south were in an intermediate position, but during the 1970s a high percentage showed a trend toward increase in male participation and decrease in female participation. Typologies of the cities were then constructed based on female age specific participation rates and female occupational distribution. Urban areas with high rates of participation among young women aged 15-24 years were distinguished from those with high participation rates for younger and older women, and those with less diversified employment opportunities for women were distinguished from those with more diversity. Female participation presented marked variations between regions. In general, women participated to a greater degree in diversified labor markets that absorbed workers of different ages and degrees of qualification. There were not necessarily more female workers in cities that were more dynamic in terms of economy and male participation. Cities of 100,000 or more inhabitants in the center were characterized by a high proportion of women of different ages in the labor market. Cities in the north had lower average levels of female participation although those on the northern border had a high participation of young women in manufactures and assembly. Southern cities employed women in manual occupations, especially in commerce and services. Primarily adolescents under 15 and women over 25 were employed. Apart from the regional variations there were variations in female employment within regions. An annex discusses the study methodology in greater detail.     

Labor trajectories and reproductive behavior: a comparison between Mexico and Spain

Data from the 1987 Mexican National Survey of Fertility and Health and the fertility survey carried out by Spain's National Institute of Statistics in 1985 were the basis for a comparison of the fertility histories and labor force participation of women of different cohorts in the two countries. Both surveys included questions on employment before marriage, between marriage and the birth of the first child, and at the present time. Eight combinations were possible, including continuous employment in all three periods and no history of employment in any period. The survey populations included women ever married or in union, with at least one live-born child, and aged between 15 and 49 years for Mexico and 18 and 49 years in Spain. Economic conditions in Mexico and Spain are dissimilar, and women's labor force participation patterns have varied as well. The Mexican survey indicated a current labor force participation rate of 37% for women aged 20-49. 42% of women aged 30-39 were employed. In Spain, 43% of women aged 18-49 were economically active. Around 60% of widowed, divorced, separated, and single women were employed. In Mexico, 38.2% of respondents had not worked in any of the three periods, 20.4% had worked in all three, and 17/7% had worked only before the first marriage or union. 61.5% of Mexican respondents had worked in at least one of the three periods. The cohort born in 1957-61 appears to be transitional to a pattern in which work outside the home assumes greater importance. In Spain, 31.3% of respondents had worked only before the first marriage or union, 24.8% had never worked, and 23.7% had worked in all three periods. 75.2% had worked in at least one of the three periods. The older Spanish cohorts had lower rates of labor force participation and the younger cohorts tendered to have higher activity rates, combining motherhood and outside employment to a greater extent. The cohort aged 25-29 at the time of the survey, which had a high proportion of women working continuously in the three periods and an intense activity rate at the time of the survey, appeared to be the transitional cohort between traditional and modern lifestyles. Thus, in both countries the cohorts aged 25-29 were those which managed to combine childbearing with employment to the greatest extent. In both Mexico and Spain,, the women within the cohort aged 25-29 with the highest activity rates were those with higher levels of education and those living in larger cities.     

家庭依附、人力资本与女性青年的劳动参与——来自湖北省的数据

本文以2009年湖北省4442份城乡居民抽样调查数据为样本,采用计量经济学的方法,实证分析了家庭依附和人力资本对青年女性劳动力劳动参与的影响,并就我国女性劳动参与决策影响因素做了城乡对比分析。研究发现,女性的人力资本和家庭依附因素对城乡女性的劳动参与有着显著的影响,但是其劳动参与决定存在着城乡差异。在劳动参与方面,农村女性的家庭依附性较之城市女性更强一些,而人力资本变量对城市女性劳动参与的影响更大,年龄、文化程度、迁移以及工作流动性都对城市女性劳动参与影响显著。我国城乡女性劳动参与一年龄曲线呈M型,有着明显的阶段性就业特征。     

Women's and Men's Access to Employer-Provided Benefits: An Assessment of Women's Acceptance as Breadwinners

abstract This article asks whether the rising number of women in the paid labor force over the last half-century has been accompanied by a parallel trend of increased recognition of a breadwinning status for women, or if traditional role conceptions have persisted in spite of women's changed economic and social circumstances. I theorize that employer-provided benefits are a unique form of compensation that, by helping parents balance work and family, directly affect parents in their capacities as breadwinners. As such, assessing women's and men's access to these benefits over the period of women's rising labor force participation can be very revealing of the acceptance of women as breadwinners. To acquire a general picture of women's and men's access to employer-provided benefits, I compare access to benefits from 1940 to 1990 in a modal women's occupation ("professional nurses") to a modal men's occupation ("automobile mechanics and repairmen"). Through the studied time span, these occupations are the largest comparably sized women's and men's occupations that are also similar in pay level and extent of unionization. This allows me to control for pay level and unionization, important alternative explanations for women's restricted access to benefits. I hypothesize that nurses have had more restricted access to employer-provided benefits than have auto mechanics. I find a disadvantage for nurses relative to auto mechanics through most of the time period, which nonetheless diminishes and then reverses slightly at the end. Taking into consideration subtleties, as well as patterns masked in the data as presented, these findings suggest at best a rather slow rate of acceptance of a breadwinning status for women, and at worst, a continuation of traditional gender norms.     

The evolution of employment in Mexico: 1895-1980

Employment figures from the Mexican national census are the basis for this analysis of employment changes in Mexico between 1895-1980. The work identifies longterm trends in the volume and composition of employment and distinguishes 3 main periods in the evolution of employment. The first period, from 1895-1930, marked the end of a stage of development lasting until about 1907 in which sufficient internal stability was achieved to support Mexico's entrance into the world market. Export of agricultural products and metals was the principal focus of economic growth. Construction of roads and railroads was a central element of progress. But economic and social problems manifested in regional disparities, concentration of wealth, conflicts between economic sectors, low pay for agricultural workers, and fierce social and political control characterized the period and culminated in the Mexican Revolution. After the first decade of the 20th century the ability of the economy to absorb new workers began to decline, and the falling of crude activity rates was not reversed until the 1940s. During the 1920s, total employment increased less than 6%, reflecting a net increase of 403,000 male workers and a decrease of 110,000 female workers. The second major period of employment from 1930-1970 saw the change from an economy based on export of primary products to one based on manufacturing for the internal market. There were 2 subperiods, a stage of transition from 1930-50, the economy registered marked fluctuations, but by the 1940s the consolidation of state power and important reforms permitting expansion of the internal market were factors in an accelerated growth of employment relative to the preceding intercensal period. Despite considerable increases in agricultural employment, the relative share of the agricultural sector in total employment was beginning a decline. Employment registered the highest growth rates of the century in the 1940s and exceeded population growth. The increased employment was explained by accelerated growth and accumulation in manufacturing along with increases in commerce, services, construction, and agriculture. From 1950-70, industrial development was consolidated, and there was a generalized expansion in employment in manufacturing as well as in the secondary and tertiary sectors. The economy was less able to absorb new labor, primarily because the agricultural sector had reached the limits of expansion in both the commercial and peasant sector by 1965, at just the time that population growth was most rapid. During the 1970s, manufacturing employment grew less rapidly because of modernization, almost exclusive orientation to the internal market which limited expansion, and scarcity of funds for importing capital goods. A new model of growth will be needed if Mexico is to escape its present stagnation, and a significant share of economic activity will need to be oriented to export. Until this process is consolidated, the national economy is unlikely to show signs of sustained recuperation.     

The link between demographic events: a study of nuptiality patterns

The author examines links between the timing of various major life events (including women's age at marriage and the spacing of children) and the economic and urban development of a society, using Mexico as an example. The focus is on marriage patterns. She finds that nuptiality influences rural-urban migration for women, as do age and socioeconomic factors and husband's employment status. Data are from the Mexican Fertility Survey for the period 1976-1977. (SUMMARY IN ENG)     

Family Leave Policies and Labor Market Segregation in Germany: Reinvention or Reform of the Male Breadwinner Model?1

abstract The historically dominant male breadwinner and female carer model in West Germany has resulted in comparably low female employment rates and a gender‐structured labor market. Since the 1970s, the decline of traditional patterns and sectors of male employment has been accompanied by the expansion of the female‐dominated service sector. Supplemented by women's higher educational attainment, a pluralism of household forms, and German unification, the result has been constant growth in female employment. With more working mothers, the question of combining work and family has provoked policy responses that, in West Germany, have mainly centered on family leave policies. In addressing the question of whether these policies have resulted in a more equitable sharing of paid and family work, this article presents longitudinal empirical data on the working patterns of women entitled to different forms of family leave. These show how changing regulations have led to the institutionalization of a “baby break” for younger women and to the promotion of labor market exclusion.     

The economics of the women's movement

In recent years, the political process has seemed to become increasingly favorable to issues involving women, as shown by the relatively large number of states which have passed the Equal Rights Amendment. The economic theory of politics would imply that this result would occur if the interests of women in removing labor force sex discrimination had increased. We argue that most sex descrimination in hiring and pay of women is in the form of statistical discrimination where sex is used as a proxy for labor force attachment. If this is so, then, on net, sex discrimination in employment practices would pay in the sense that the gainers from such behavior would gain more than the losers would lose. Married women would share in such gains since they would be compensated for their lower earnings by the higher earnings of their husbands. Single women, however, would receive no such compensation. We therefore hypothesize that the recent increase in legislation benefitting women is related to marriage rates, not to female labor force participation. Using votes in the state legislatures on the ERA as a measure of success by state of the women's movement, we find that our results do hold — number of single women is significant in explaining such voting but female labor force participation is not significant.     

Women with high fertility in Mexico: orientations for a population policy

The characteristics and correlates of high fertility women in Mexico were assessed for different age and residential groups with data from the National Demographic Survey of 1982. This survey included information on rural, urban and metropolitan Mexican women aged 15-49 years who had ever been in union. Rural areas were defined as those with fewer than 20,000 inhabitants. Metropolitan areas were Guadalajara, Monterrey, and Mexico City. High fertility was defined for the purpose of this study as at least 2 live births for women 15-19, 3 for women 20-24, 4 for those 25-29, 5 for those 30-34, 6 for those 35-39, and 7 for those 40-49. According to this definition about 40% of Mexican women are high fertility, with proportions ranging from about 1/3 of those 20-29 to half of those 35-49 years old. High fertility is about twice as common in women 15-19 in rural areas as in urban and metropolitan areas of Mexico. 10% of rural women aged 20-24 already have 5 children, compared to less than 1% of metropolitan women and under 3% of women in other urban areas. By age 45-49, 31% of rural women, 20% of other urban women, and 15% of metropolitan women have 10 or more children. 13% in all areas have 2 or 3. Large proportions of rural women in all age groups are high fertility, with the difference especially marked at young ages. The data on contraceptive usage indicate that high fertility women are among the increasing numbers of Mexican women attempting to control their family size. 10% of high fertility women in rural areas are sterilized and another 10% use oral contraceptives. Injectables and traditional methods share 3rd place. IUDs are almost nonexistent in rural areas. In urban and metropolitan zones about 1/4 of high fertility women have been sterilized. About 10% use pills. Traditional methods and IUDs are in 3rd place for urban women while injectables occupy 3rd place for metropolitan women. Except among women 30-34, about 70% of sterilizations in rural areas are in high fertility women. The data demonstrate the growing acceptance of family planning in rural as well as in urban areas. In 1969, only 10% of rural women in union had ever used a contraceptive method. The 43.1% of Mexican women with little or no schooling contribute 63% of the high fertility. High fertility women are overrepresented in the lowest educational stratum in all age groups. Methodological difficulties arise in comparing the fertility performance of different social groups. It appears however that agricultural workers and unsalaried self-employed workers contribute a disproportionate share of high fertility.     

The disparate labor market impacts of monetary policy

Employing two widely used approaches to identify the effects of monetary policy, this paper explores the differential impact of policy on the labor market outcomes of teenagers, minorities, out‐of‐school youth, and less‐skilled individuals. Evidence from recursive vector autoregressions and autoregressive distributed lag models that use information on the Federal Reserve's contractionary initiatives indicate that the employment‐population ratio of minorities is more sensitive to contractionary monetary policy than that of whites. The ratio falls primarily because of an increase in unemployment and not because of a decline in labor force participation. Monetary policy appears to have a disproportionate effect on the unemployment rate of teenagers, particularly African American teenagers. Their employment‐population ratios fall because of increased difficulty in obtaining employment. The larger responses are not caused by their higher likelihood of having been employed in industries and occupations that are more sensitive to contractionary monetary policy. © 2004 by the Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management.     

From natural to controlled fertility: Mexico, 1950-1980

Mexico's demographic transition was much later and more rapid than the classic transitions of European populations. A careful study of available data sources, especially fertility surveys, allows a detailed understanding of the reproductive process in Mexico, including the nuptiality patterns that influence fertility as well as changes in general and marital fertility. This work assesses the data sources and methods utilized to analyze Mexican fertility in the past, reviews fertility trends before the onset of the transition from about 1940-70, and describes the new reproductive patterns observed since about 1976. Fertility information from the decinnial censuses is not very adequate for measuring fertility levels or trends. Possible estimates based on census information are few and widely scattered in time, and omissions, underregistration, and faulty declarations are common because of the retrospective nature of the census. Census information is highly aggregated so that significant intermediate variables are not easy to assess. But census data are still the only source allowing estimations of fertility levels by areas of residence, administrative entities, and their social and economic characteristics. Mexico's vital statistics are of poor quality, with underregistration and late registration common. Evaluations of the Mexican Fertility Survey (EMF) of 1976-77 indicate that it provides more reliable estimates than the vital statistics or the census. The EMF and the National Demographic Survey (END) of 1982 indicate that the total fertility rate fell by 30.3% between 1974-80, from 6.27 to 4.37. Both the EMF and the END were national level surveys which collected complete fertility histories thus providing longitudinal information on the marital and fertility histories of women aged 15-49. This work uses primarily data from the EMF and END to analyze the period of fertility increase between 1940-60, the period of highest fertility between 1950-70, and the transition from a natural fertility regime to one of fertility control after 1970. The analysis contains 2 major parts, 1 presenting a study of general fertility including age specific rates for generations and periods, final family size of women terminating their childbearing, and the calendar of fertility for women still of fertile age. The 2nd major section focuses on marital fertility using the same indicators but taking into account the relationships between nuptiality and fertility. Comparisons are included between fertility levels based on the major surveys and those implied by the census and vital statistics data.     

WOMEN, LABOR MARKETS. AND COMPARABLE WORTH

This article reviews various theories about labor markets in the United States and traces the arguments that accompany each theory concerning why women earn less than men. To test some of these arguments, the paper uses aggregate statistics on the sex composition of occupations and industries during the decade 1970–1980 t o identify trends. Findings show that the sex segregation of occupations decreased slightly while the sex segregation of industries increased. The earnings differential between men and women remained substantially the same. The paper offers an explanation using labor market theories for these empirical findings and, in light of this explanation, assesses the implications for the effectiveness of comparable worth policies.     

Contraceptive practice in Mexico: two five-year periods,two different patterns (1976-1977 to 1987)

This work uses data from the 1976-77 Mexican Fertility Survey, the 1982 National Demographic Survey, and the 1987 National Fertility and Health Survey to analyze fertility and contraceptive behavior among Mexican women in the 2 5-year periods from 1976-82 and 1982-87. The proportion of fertile-aged women in union using a method increased from 41.6% in 1976-77 to 58.8% in 1982 and 61.4% in 1989. The most significant gains in use of the more effective methods as in contraceptive prevalence occurred in the 1st 5-year period. The proportion of women sterilized increased from 3.73% in 1977 to 16.6% in 1982 and 21.7% in 1987, equivalent to increases over the 2 5-year periods of 345.7% and 30.7%. Female sterilization was the only method whose use increased constantly over the period. Use of the IUD was almost unchanged between 1977-82, while use of oral contraceptives and injectables both declined from 1982 to 1987 after increasing over the preceding 5 years. Contraceptive usage increased intensely in all subgroups of women studied between 1976-82, but in the 2nd period from 1982 to 1987 contraceptive usage declined significantly in some subgroups. Contraceptive prevalence among women in urban and metropolitan areas increased systematically after 1977. Rural women increased their use from 22.5% in 1977 to 48.6% in 1982. 5 years later the proportion of rural users had declined to 45.3% although it was still well above the level of 1976-77. The most significant increase in contraceptive usage among illiterate women and those with primary educations occurred from 1976 to 1982. In 1987 women with primary and higher levels of education demonstrated increases in contraceptive usage compared with 1982, but contraceptive usage among illiterate women declined from 40.8% in 1982 to 28.9% in 1987. Data from the 3 surveys demonstrate low but increasing rates of use among women 15-19 years old, who may be in the process of developing a new fertility pattern characterized by longer birth intervals. Women in the middle reproductive years had higher rates of use showing little change from 1982 to 1987 and unlikely to show great change in the future due to their already high level. Women aged 40-44 showed systematic increases in use from 1976 to 1987, but women aged 45-49 increased their use only from 32.6% in 1977 to 39.0% in 1987. The declines in age differentials in contraceptive prevalence from 1982 to 1987 demonstrate that age is losing weight as an explanatory factor. Between 1976-77 and 1982, women of all parities increased their contraceptive usage substantially. Women with 3 or fewer children continued to increase their usage through 1987, but usage among women with 4 or more children actually declined between 1982-87. The results suggest that a small proportion of rural, less educated, and high parity women may have returned to their former patterns of uncontrolled fertility. Nevertheless, fertility differentials were much smaller in 1987 than in 1976-77.     

The internal consistency of corrected labor force data in the census (1960-1980) and the estimation of labor force participation rates by age and sex for 1980

This work examines the internal consistency of corrected estimates of the economically active population in the Mexican censuses of 1960 through 1980, estimates participation rates by age and sex for 1980, and determines the degree of overestimation or underestimation of the 1980 census. The first section reviews results of evaluations of information on the active population and examines the internal consistency of the different estimates. The second establishes criteria for correction of participation rates by age and sex for 1980 and estimates the degree of overestimation or underestimation, and the third assesses the advantages and limitations of the results. Comparison of results from several studies suggests that the labor force was significantly overestimated in the 1960 and 1980 censuses and underestimated in the censuses of 1970 and 1990. Estimates of overestimation in the 1960 census ranged from 8.5 to 14.3%, while estimates of underestimation in 1970 ranged from -0.5% to -0.8%. Estimates of overestimation in 1980 ranged from 6.6% to 21.6%. Internal consistency of labor force data was also assessed through a comparative analysis of average rates of growth of the population aged 12 and over and of the economically active population according to the census and the various corrections. The study concluded that the female labor force was overestimated by 1.6 million workers in 1980, or 27.1%, while the male labor force was overestimated by 610,000 workers, or 4%. The total labor force was overestimated by around 10%. These estimates for 1980 appear more congruent with general trends in male and female labor force participation, and also with the rate of growth of the population over age 12.     

Day care and female employment in Mexico: descriptive evidence and policy considerations

"This paper analyzes the supply and organization of public day care in Mexico and presents a series of considerations as to the formulation of future policy. The research concentrates on the evolution of public policies to provide day care to working women in the formal sector through the Mexican Social Security Institute (IMSS). Data on the evolution of female labor force participation, changes in family structure, the supply of day care and patterns of child care arrangements, suggest that access to formal facilities falls short of demand.... Innovative policies for the reorganization and expansion of the provision of day care are presently under consideration." (EXCERPT)     

Still Supermadres? Gender and the Policy Priorities of Latin American Legislators

This article examines the effect of gender on legislators' attitudes and bill initiation behavior in three Latin American countries—Argentina, Colombia, and Costa Rica. I argue that sex role changes in Latin America over the past 35 years have led to changes in how female legislators perceive their political roles, and consequently, changes in their attitudes and behavior. Specifically, female legislators will place higher priority than male legislators on women's issues and children/family concerns, but their attitudes in other areas, such as education, health, the economy, agriculture, and employment, will be similar. However, I expect that gender dynamics in the legislative arena lead to marginalization of women such that gender differences will emerge for bill initiation behavior where they did not appear for attitudes. I test this using a survey of legislators' issue preferences and archival data on the bills that legislators sponsor and find statistical support for the hypotheses.     

Recent Data Trends Show Welfare Reform to Be a Mixed Success: Significant Policy Changes Should Accompany Reauthorization

The conventional wisdom is that the 1996 federal welfare reform law has been a stunning success. Welfare caseloads have declined significantly and employment among disadvantaged single mothers has increased more than anticipated. Also, more low‐income children were living with married couples in the late 1990s. However, welfare reform was enacted in the midst of exceptional economic, demographic, and other policy changes and it is impossible to disentangle the impact of federal welfare reform from these other factors. This article describes these factors and puts the income gains and losses among families with children between 1996 and 2000 into the historical context of the past twenty‐five years. This analysis provides substantial evidence that welfare reform may have “worked” for many low‐income families with children while failing other low‐income families. Furthermore, despite recent increases in poverty following the 2001 recession, welfare caseloads continued to decline, indicating a fundamental flaw in what has traditionally been a countercyclical program. Data also suggest that the significant increase over the 1990s in the share of low‐income children living with married couples has been reversed following the recent recession. These findings suggest that the 1996 welfare law needs to be considerably retooled.     

The size of government

Most research on the causes of growth in government expenditure has focused on the demand for government services. In this paper, we argue that in fact this growth may have occurred because of changes in supply. Changes in technology leading to increased specialization and thus increased opportunity costs of self-production have led to increased market production and increased record keeping. Also, female labor force participation has increased. Both of these factors serve to reduce the (efficiency) cost of collecting taxes; if the demand for government spending has not changed, this increase in supply would lead to a larger public sector. We estimate a system of simultaneous equations for the period 1929–1970 incorporating this hypothesis, and the results are consistent with the theory. We are able to explain virtually all of the growth of government; increases in female labor force participation seems to be a very important variable in this explanation.     

Legalization of consensual unions in Mexico

Data examined in this study are from the 1976 Mexican Fertility Survey. The authors review previous findings and compare information from this survey with data from the 1969 PECFAL Survey. They then examine the types of consensual union and factors such as women's age, educational status, occupation, premarital fertility, and rural or urban residence. The focus of the study is on the extent to which consensual unions eventually become legal marriages. The authors also investigate the increasing probability of termination of marriage through divorce or separation, especially in urban areas.