IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/iza/izadps/dp4371.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

A Cohort Analysis of Labor Participation in Mexico, 1987-2009

Author

Listed:
  • Duval Hernández, Robert

    (Open University of Cyprus)

  • Orraca Romano, Pedro

    (University of Sussex)

Abstract

This paper conducts a cohort analysis of labor participation in urban Mexico in recent decades. The rates analyzed are the labor force participation, the unemployment rate, and the employment shares of the formal and informal salaried sectors, as well as of self-employment. These rates are decomposed into age, cohort, and time effects. The life cycle patterns of labor force participation and formal employment follow a standard inverted U-shape. Younger workers are more likely to participate in the informal salaried sector, while self-employment increases monotonically with age. However, significant informal salaried employment is also observed among older unskilled workers and women of different ages. Strong countercyclical variations are observed for the informal salaried sector, while the opposite occurs for the formal sector. Self-employment fluctuations are for the most part acyclical. These facts support a mixed view of the labor markets whereby some informal sector workers are rationed out of the formal sector, while others go into this sector voluntarily. The analysis also indicates that the female labor force is countercyclical, suggesting the existence of an "added worker" effect. Long-run generational effects show a steadily rising participation in the informal sector with a corresponding decline in formality among newer generations of salaried workers. Some preliminary explanations for this fact are discussed.

Suggested Citation

  • Duval Hernández, Robert & Orraca Romano, Pedro, 2009. "A Cohort Analysis of Labor Participation in Mexico, 1987-2009," IZA Discussion Papers 4371, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    • Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp4371
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://docs.iza.org/dp4371.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Bosch, Mariano & Maloney, William F., 2007. "Gross Worker Flows in the Presence of Informal Labor Markets: Evidence from Mexico, 1987-2002," IZA Discussion Papers 2864, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    2. David A. Wise, 1994. "Studies in the Economics of Aging," NBER Books, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc, number wise94-1, March.
    3. Edwin van Gameren, 2008. "Labor Force Participation of Mexican Elderly: The Importance of Health," Estudios Económicos, El Colegio de México, Centro de Estudios Económicos, vol. 23(1), pages 89-127.
    4. Paul Beaudry & Thomas Lemieux, 1999. "Evolution of the Female Labour Force Participation Rate in Canada, 1976-1994," CIRANO Project Reports 1999rp-02, CIRANO.
    5. Paul Beaudry & Thomas Lemieux, 1999. "Evolution of the Female Labour Force Participation Rate in Canada, 1976-1994: a Cohort Analysis," A Symposium on Canadian Labour Force Participation in the 1990s (Special Issue of Canadian Business Economics, Volume 7, Number 2, May 1999), in: Andrew Sharpe & Louis Grignon (ed.),A Symposium on Canadian Labour Force Participation in the 1990s (Special Issue of Canadian Business Economics, Volume 7, Number 2, May 1999), pages 57-70, Centre for the Study of Living Standards.
    6. Guillermo E. Perry & William F. Maloney & Omar S. Arias & Pablo Fajnzylber & Andrew D. Mason & Jaime Saavedra-Chanduvi, 2007. "Informality : Exit and Exclusion," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 6730, December.
    7. Wong, Rebeca & Levine, Ruth E, 1992. "The Effect of Household Structure on Women's Economic Activity and Fertility: Evidence from Recent Mothers in Urban Mexico," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 41(1), pages 89-102, October.
    8. Lundberg, Shelly, 1985. "The Added Worker Effect," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 3(1), pages 11-37, January.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Di Novi, Cinzia & Marenzi, Anna, 2019. "The smoking epidemic across generations, genders, and educational groups: A matter of diffusion of innovations," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 33(C), pages 155-168.
    2. Sibel Cengiz & Afsin Sahin, 2014. "Modelling nonlinear behavior of labor force participation rate by STAR: An application for Turkey," International Journal of Business and Economic Sciences Applied Research (IJBESAR), International Hellenic University (IHU), Kavala Campus, Greece (formerly Eastern Macedonia and Thrace Institute of Technology - EMaTTech), vol. 7(1), pages 113-127, April.
    3. Lassassi, Moundir & Tansel, Aysit, 2020. "Female Labor Force Participation in Five Selected MENA Countries: An Age-Period-Cohort Analysis (Algeria, Egypt, Jordan, Palestine and Tunisia)," GLO Discussion Paper Series 693, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    4. Stephanie Aaronson & Tomaz Cajner & Bruce Fallick & Felix Galbis-Reig & Christopher Smith & William Wascher, 2014. "Labor Force Participation: Recent Developments and Future Prospects," Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, Economic Studies Program, The Brookings Institution, vol. 45(2 (Fall)), pages 197-275.
    5. Abou Kane, 2014. "Analysis of Labour Market Participation in Senegal," Post-Print hal-01929090, HAL.
    6. Arestoff, Florence & Djemai, Elodie, 2016. "Women’s Empowerment Across the Life Cycle and Generations: Evidence from Sub-Saharan Africa," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 87(C), pages 70-87.
    7. César Vladimir Martínez Arango & Coralia Azucena Quintero Rojas & Lari Arthur Viianto, 2015. "Discriminación de género en redes laborales," Ensayos Revista de Economia, Universidad Autonoma de Nuevo Leon, Facultad de Economia, vol. 0(2), pages 1-34, November.
    8. Cinzia Di Novi & Anna Marenzi & Francesca Zantomio, 2021. "Patterns of Red and Processed Meat Consumption across Generations: A Shift from the Traditional Mediterranean Diet," Working Papers 2021:01, Department of Economics, University of Venice "Ca' Foscari".
    9. Moundir Lassassi & Aysit Tansel, 2020. "Female labor force participation in five selected MENA countries: An age-period-cohort analysis," Koç University-TUSIAD Economic Research Forum Working Papers 2018, Koc University-TUSIAD Economic Research Forum.
    10. Nathalie Greenan & Majda Seghir, 2017. "Measuring Vulnerability to Adverse Working Conditions: Evidence from European Countries [Mesurer la vulnérabilité à la dégradation des conditions de travail dans les pays européens]," Working Papers hal-02172377, HAL.
    11. Di Novi, Cinzia & Marenzi, Anna, 2022. "Improving health and sustainability: Patterns of red and processed meat consumption across generations," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 126(12), pages 1324-1330.
    12. repec:dau:papers:123456789/12351 is not listed on IDEAS

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Robert Duval Hernández & Pedro Orraca, 2008. "A Cohort Analysis of Labor Participation in Mexico, 1987-2008," Working papers DTE 440, CIDE, División de Economía.
    2. Brodeur, Abel & Connolly, Marie, 2013. "Do higher child care subsidies improve parental well-being? Evidence from Quebec's family policies," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 93(C), pages 1-16.
    3. Falco, Paolo & Maloney, William F. & Rijkers, Bob & Sarrias, Mauricio, 2015. "Heterogeneity in subjective wellbeing: An application to occupational allocation in Africa," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 111(C), pages 137-153.
    4. Tansel, Aysit & Kan, Elif Oznur, 2011. "Labor mobility across the formal/informal divide in Turkey: evidence from individual level data," MPRA Paper 35672, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    5. Kadija Charni, 2016. "Is it Better to Work When We Are Older? An Empirical Comparison Between France and Great Britain," Working Papers halshs-01393268, HAL.
    6. Magdalena Smyk & Joanna Tyrowicz & Barbara Liberda, 2014. "Age-productivity patterns in talent occupations for men and women: a decomposition," Post-Communist Economies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 26(3), pages 401-414, September.
    7. David Black & Yi‐Ping Tseng & Roger Wilkins, 2010. "The Decline In Male Employment In Australia: A Cohort Analysis," Australian Economic Papers, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 49(3), pages 180-199, September.
    8. Tomoko Kishi, 2013. "Cohort Effects, Spousal Incomes and Female Labour Force Participation in Japan - A Panel Data Analysis," Australian Journal of Labour Economics (AJLE), Bankwest Curtin Economics Centre (BCEC), Curtin Business School, vol. 16(2), pages 201-217.
    9. Murrugarra, Edmundo, 2011. "Employability and productivity among older workers : apolicy framework and evidence from Latin America," Social Protection Discussion Papers and Notes 63230, The World Bank.
    10. Sung‐Hee Jeon, 2008. "The Impact of Lifecycle Events on Women's Labour Force Transitions: A Panel Analysis," The Economic Record, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 84(s1), pages 83-98, September.
    11. Siobhan Austen (Author A) & Richard Seymour (Author B), 2006. "The Evolution of the Female Labour Force Participation Rate in Australia, 1984-1999," Australian Journal of Labour Economics (AJLE), Bankwest Curtin Economics Centre (BCEC), Curtin Business School, vol. 9(3), pages 305-320, September.
    12. Almut Balleer & Ramon Gomez-Salvador & Jarkko Turunen, 2014. "Labour force participation across Europe: a cohort-based analysis," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 46(4), pages 1385-1415, June.
    13. Irene Ip & Sheryl King & Geneviève Verdier, 1999. "Structural Influences on Participation Rates: A Canada-U.S. Comparison," A Symposium on Canadian Labour Force Participation in the 1990s (Special Issue of Canadian Business Economics, Volume 7, Number 2, May 1999), in: Andrew Sharpe & Louis Grignon (ed.),A Symposium on Canadian Labour Force Participation in the 1990s (Special Issue of Canadian Business Economics, Volume 7, Number 2, May 1999), pages 25-41, Centre for the Study of Living Standards.
    14. Ross Richardson & Lia Pacelli & Ambra Poggi & Matteo Richiardi, 2018. "Female Labour Force Projections Using Microsimulation for Six EU Countries," International Journal of Microsimulation, International Microsimulation Association, vol. 11(2), pages 5-51.
    15. Pagés, Carmen & Madrigal, Lucía, 2008. "Is Informality a Good Measure of Job Quality?: Evidence from Job Satisfaction Data," IDB Publications (Working Papers) 1098, Inter-American Development Bank.
    16. Carmen Pagés-Serra & Marco Stampini, 2007. "¿Sin formación no hay buenos empleos? Elementos de juicio sobre la relación entre la formación y la segmentación del mercado laboral," Research Department Publications 4562, Inter-American Development Bank, Research Department.
    17. Madrigal, Lucia & Pagés, Carmen & Suaya, Agustina, 2016. "The Value of Social Security: Are Formal Jobs Better?," IZA Discussion Papers 9866, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    18. Bob Dugan & Benoît Robidoux, 1999. "Demographic Shifts and Labour Force Participation Rates in Canada," A Symposium on Canadian Labour Force Participation in the 1990s (Special Issue of Canadian Business Economics, Volume 7, Number 2, May 1999), in: Andrew Sharpe & Louis Grignon (ed.),A Symposium on Canadian Labour Force Participation in the 1990s (Special Issue of Canadian Business Economics, Volume 7, Number 2, May 1999), pages 42-56, Centre for the Study of Living Standards.
    19. Pagés, Carmen & Stampini, Marco, 2009. "No education, no good jobs? Evidence on the relationship between education and labor market segmentation," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 37(3), pages 387-401, September.
    20. Tammy Schirle, 2008. "Why Have the Labor Force Participation Rates of Older Men Increased since the Mid-1990s?," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 26(4), pages 549-594, October.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    informal sector; labor force composition; Latin America;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J21 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Labor Force and Employment, Size, and Structure
    • O17 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Formal and Informal Sectors; Shadow Economy; Institutional Arrangements
    • O54 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economywide Country Studies - - - Latin America; Caribbean

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp4371. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Holger Hinte (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/izaaade.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.