A família brasileira na força de trabalho: um estudo de oferta de trabalho -1978/88

Abstract

This paper aims at a better understanding of how individuals who pool resources in the context of a family share labor force participation decisions. The source of data iv the National Household Survey (PNAD). The unit of observation is the family, classified by the sex of the head, living in the metropolitan areas of the Northeast and of the Southeast. The paper is divided into two parts. The first one provides an analysis of the trends on labor force participation rate, unemployment and income over the period 1978/88. The second part specifies a cross section family labor force participation model for 1988 in order to test the hypothesis that: a) a lowering of head's income orb) an increase in family unemployment, rises the labor supply of family members (spouse, sons/daughters, other). It was found that either a drop in head's income (income-effect) or an increase in family's unemployment (unemployment-effect) rate leads to a rise in the labor supply of the other family members. However, the income-effect is stronger in the Southeast and the unemployment-effect more powerful in the Northeast. The income-effect is also stronger among the poor. However; it fades away as head's income increases. The unemployment-effect is more generalized across head's income but, nevertheless, gets weaker as income grows.