Economic Reform, Structural Adjustment and Female Labor Force Participation in Buenos Aires, Argentina

Abstract

Female labor force participation (LFP) has recently increased in the Metropolitan Area of Buenos Aires in a remarkable way. This increase has been a result neither of improvements in the conditions of labor supply nor due to the diversification of the structure of occupational opportunities available for women. Using cross-sectional and panel data I show that most of the growth in female LFP can be explained as a response to increasing unemployment and job instability associated with the implementation of structural adjustment policies since 1991. I argue that more women have decided to look for work as a way to reduce households’ economic uncertainty.