Women in the labor market

The increase of 400,000 people is mainly attributed to two factors: 33% of people decided to leave the market to fulfill family obligations, and nearly 28% because of advanced age and seeking retirement.

The first group must be analysed in detail, since 97% of those who leave the labour market due to family obligations are women.

Historically, women have been less likely to be employed than men, both because those who seek it have fewer opportunities to obtain it than their male counterparts (higher unemployment rates), and because they stay at home to a greater extent with family responsibilities.

Thus, before 2020, only 42% of working-age women were employed, but today this figure has reached 39%. At the same time, the non-participation rate rises from 50% to 55% between 2020 and 2024, with higher rates among heads of households with children (60%) and women who have not completed secondary education (68%).

Unpaid work, such as childcare, is one of the main barriers limiting women’s participation in the labour market, affecting nearly half a million women.

There are three options to reduce or balance this burden: family shared responsibility, private solutions and social programs such as government subsidies and expanded care networks.

The so-called gender dividend, the potential to increase the female workforce in response to an aging population, depends largely on effective public policies.

To achieve this goal, it is necessary to reduce the huge wage gap and eliminate discrimination in the labor market by providing older women with better employment opportunities. Only in this way can their participation in the economy and their contribution to national development be increased.

affa17@gmail.com

The author is an economist.