Vertical and horizontal labor segregation. Structural elements of the Honduran labor market: 2001, 2005 and 2010

Abstract

Vertical and horizontal labor segregation is an international problem that concerns all countries with greater or less intensity. In Honduras case, it is not a cyclical event, much less seasonal, since this irregularity has been sustained over years; as evidenced by the counts of the Permanent Survey of Households of Multiple Purposes (EPHPM) conducted by the National Statistics Institute (INE) for the years 2001, 2005, and 2010. The
imbalances in the distribution of women and men in occupations can be verified by an index of segregation. This method widely used in research was created in 1955 by Duncan and Duncan. Based on census data, or household surveys, the method gives the possibility of verifying the classification of the workforce, as well as demonstrating the degree to which the relative participation of men and women differ. Indicators like the main occupation of the PEA, revealed that the primary sector, in rural areas, maintains a high concentration of male labor, which highlights the index of labor dissimilarity. For the study period, it reached percentage values between 54.8% and 64.7%. In relation to monetary income, the numbers showed that in the large
cities (Tegucigalpa-Comayagüela and San Pedro Sula), on average, men are better paid than the rest of the groups in the complementary domains. The application of the Duncan Index showed the quantification of the phenomenon of labor segregation, as well as its close link to traditional gender patterns. In the same way, the concentration of male labor in the occupations of the first sector of the economy; agriculture, livestock and agricultural work; the labor force of men is highly representative in the textile, masonry and mechanical areas. Female labor in rural areas is absolutely excluded from transport labor.