Gender and Socio-Economic Residential Segregation in Mexico City

Landy Sanchez, University of Wisconsin at Madison

This paper examines the effects of socio-economic residential segregation on precarious employment outcomes in Mexico City, particularly whether there is a gendered effect. The data comes from the 2000 Mexican Population and Dwelling Census. The extent of residential segregation is estimated at the Ageb level (similar to census tracts). Using hierarchical lineal models this paper considers whether residential segregation affects: a) informal employment, b) critical labor conditions, and c) hourly wages. A composite measure was also examined. Overall, the results suggest that residential segregation increases precariousness, even after considering other significant individual variables: age, education, gender, family structure, and occupation. However, its effect varies for the different dependent variables. Residential segregation does not significantly increase the probabilities of informality, while it enlarges those of critical labor conditions without significant gender differences. In addition, residential segregation negatively affects hourly wages and it is more detrimental for men than for women.