Gender gaps in unemployment rates in Argentina

Abstract

Using data from the Argentinean Household Survey for the period 1995-2001, I study the factors that explain the gender gap in unemployment rates. Using a microeconometric decomposition technique, I find that the gender gap in unemployment rates is explained not by differences in the characteristics of men and women but by differences in the labor market returns to their characteristics, especially those associated to the marital status. Hence, differences in men?s and women?s behaviour and the practices of employers towards gender are behind the gender gap. However, the relative importance of these two factors in explaining the gap is not totally clear.