Gendered Barriers at Exits of Unemployment. The Gender Gap in Unemployment Duration in Spain

Pilar Gonalons Pons, University of Wisconsin at Madison

The growing research on unemployment as a stratification mechanism has examined the gender gaps in unemployment rates, duration and their impact on other labor market outcomes, such as wages. Spain has one of the OECD’s largest gross gender gaps in unemployment rates and duration (Azmat et al, 2007) and constitutes an interesting case for this research. Using data from the Spanish sample of the European Community Household Panel I analyze gender differences in duration and patterns of exiting unemployment using event history analysis techniques. The analyses confirm that there is a remarkable gender gap in unemployment duration after controlling for several individual and macroeconomic variables. Women are 20% less likely than men to find a new job and twice as much likely to drop out of the labor force. This evidence challenges optimistic opinions about the increasing integration of women in the Spanish labor market.