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Entrapped as Domestic Workers? The Effect of Economic Context on Work Opportunities

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Demographic Analysis of Latin American Immigrants in Spain

Part of the book series: Applied Demography Series ((ADS,volume 5))

Abstract

Using the panel version of the Spanish Labor Force Survey, we focus specifically on the changing socioeconomic environment of Spain as an important determinant of the occupational opportunities for foreign-born women—particularly Latin-Americans—from 1999 to 2012. Our primary hypothesis is that the economic crisis has restrained women working as domestic assistants and caregivers from moving up the occupational ladder, independent of their nationality and other individual characteristics, and regardless of their level of integration in Spain. Our analysis shows that women only had better chances of upward movement between 2005 and 2007, under favorable economic conditions and when most regularization in Spain had been completed. Moreover, our results demonstrate the role that the deteriorating labor market context post-2008 has played in cutting off women’s opportunity to ascend from housekeeping and care occupations. Our study contributes with new evidence to reinforce the insider-outsider model of job relations and the low incidence of intersegment mobility: immigrant women who work in domestic and care-related occupations have a low likelihood of leaving those jobs, and the economic cycle—far more than immigrants’ characteristics and individual trajectories in Spain—is the strongest determinant of their prospects for upward mobility.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    This research uses labor market information about migrants both in the country of origin and in Spain, which is provided by the 2007 National Immigrant Survey (ENI).

  2. 2.

    Variations in this criterion did not substantially change our results.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institut d’Études Démographiques et du Parcours de Vie, Université de Gèneve, Geneva, Switzerland

    Elena Vidal-Coso

  2. European University Institute, San Domenico di Fiesole, Italy

    Daniela Vono de Vilhena

Authors
  1. Elena Vidal-Coso
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  2. Daniela Vono de Vilhena
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Correspondence to Elena Vidal-Coso .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Centre for Demographic Studies, Bellaterra, Barcelona, Spain

    Andreu Domingo

  2. School of Geography & Geosciences, St. Andrews, Fife, United Kingdom

    Albert Sabater

  3. Centre for Demographic Studies, Bellaterra, Barcelona, Spain

    Richard R. Verdugo

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Vidal-Coso, E., Vono de Vilhena, D. (2015). Entrapped as Domestic Workers? The Effect of Economic Context on Work Opportunities. In: Domingo, A., Sabater, A., Verdugo, R. (eds) Demographic Analysis of Latin American Immigrants in Spain. Applied Demography Series, vol 5. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-12361-5_4

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