Wives, Sons and Daughters in the Mexico City Labor Market

Abstract

The aim of this article is to explore the economic participation of wives, sons and daughters in maleheaded households in Mexico City in 1995. Through the use of logistic regressions, we sought to indicate the importance in the current situation of the variables traditionally used to explain the labor activity of various household members, such as age, educational achievement and marital status. We also attempted to demonstrate the relevance of considering variables from the familial demographic and socio-economic context in all social sectors. In particular, the influence of familial socio-economic variables (such as income level and the head of the household's participation in the labor market) has been studied more fully in the case of sectors with scant resources, and this article seeks to expand existing knowledge in this field on relatively wealthier groups. One of the most interesting results was obtained by studying the non-manual independent occupation of heads of household such as professionals, technicians, and established businessmen- since within this family context, a significant economic participation of wives and sons was observed, even when both individual factors and the income levels of the head of the household were controlled.