Urban Public Transportation Access and Women's Labor Supply: Evidence from a Natural Spatial Experiment in Monterrey, Mexico

This article analyzes the impact of a subway network expansion on women’s labor supply in Mexico’s Monterrey Metropolitan Area. The analysis considers three outcomes: employment level, participation rate, and female-to-male relative employment. The effect is identified using the observed exogenous change in the subway system from 2000 to 2010 combined with geo-coded census tracts. To examine the robustness of the impact, the study uses a quasi-experimental approach based on difference-in-differences estimators while accounting for other potential sources of variation and endogeneity. The main results suggest the expansion of the subway network increased women’s employment by 10.67 percent, raised women’s labor force participation rate by 1 percent, and enhanced relative employment by 1.74 women per 100 men employed. This research demonstrates that market-oriented policies such as providing safe public transportation might effectively promote employment and enhance gender equality in the labor market as an alternative to other interventions.HIGHLIGHTSThe relationship between Monterrey Metropolitan Area’s expanding subway network and women’s labor supply needs further analysis.Housing choice is exogenous of access to the subway network and distance to downtown.Improvements in access to urban public transportation increase women’s labor supply.Expanding subway access is an excellent tool for equalizing labor market opportunities between women and men.