Disentangling the determinants of migrants’ gendered labour inclusion gaps in Chile

Jose Ignacio Carrasco , University of Oxford
Nuni Jorgensen, University of Oxford

Research on gender inequalities in labour market participation shows that immigration policies, limited childcare access, and weak social support networks often exacerbate disadvantages faced by migrant women. As a result, gender gaps in employment are frequently wider among migrants than natives. Family composition and gender norms within different communities further shape these outcomes, yet most scholarship focuses on countries in the Global North. In Chile, where the foreign-born population increased from 1.9% to 7.6% between 2012 and 2022, labour market inequalities reveal complex patterns: women face higher unemployment rates, while men are more concentrated in informal work. Notably, gender gaps in participation are narrower among migrants than among Chileans, but vary across groups, being more pronounced among Bolivian and Haitian migrants than among Venezuelans and Colombians. Existing research has been largely descriptive, drawing on household surveys and national statistics, with limited attention to the mechanisms behind these disparities. This study examines the determinants of gender differences in migrant labour market inclusion in Chile, focusing on recent arrivals. Using the 2022 National Migration Survey, the first to provide detailed microdata on labour outcomes and household dynamics, alongside the National Employment Survey for comparison with the native population, it analyses how human capital, family arrangements, institutional barriers, and occupational downgrading shape gendered labour inclusion. By applying a comparative, theory-driven framework to new empirical data, the study advances understanding of how structural conditions and community-specific dynamics generate distinctive patterns of gender inequality in a South–South migration context.

See extended abstract

 Presented in Session 19. The Labor-Market Outcomes of Migrant Populations