Female Laborforce Participation and Tendencies Affecting Income Inequality in Brazil (1992-2014)

ABSTRACT

Women living with their spouses have served as the main sector of society driving the increase in female laborforce participation in Brazil in recent decades. Such a phenomenon is reflected in the growing contribution made by women to family income levels. The following article argues that such trends have helped to reduce income inequality among families as of the 1990s. Harnessing data from the PNADs (Brazilian National Household Surveys), we examine household income inequality per capita, measured by the coefficient of variation squared, according to a) sources of household income (husband’s earnings, wife’s earnings and other income); and b) family type (whether or not the family is headed by a couple or not). We use this information to develop counterfactual analyses to examine the impact of women’s earnings on income inequality trends in Brazil from 1992 to 2014. With the growing parity of earnings between spouses, the net result of the shifts in women’s earnings during the period under analysis had a balancing effect.

income inequality; families; female laborforce participation; marriages; labor market