Data Analysis and Applications 2

8 Gender-Based Differences in the Impact of the Economic Crisis on Labor Market Flows in Southern Europe

This chapter¹ presents an application of the non-homogeneous Markov system theory to labor force participation providing a cross-national, gender-based comparison of labor market transitions among Southern European countries. Raw data from the European Union Labour Force Survey (EU-LFS) from 2006 to 2013 is drawn to compare the distribution of transition probabilities from the labor market state of employment, unemployment and inactivity and vice versa, for Greece, Italy, Spain and Portugal and examine whether the distributions are gender sensitive. Moreover, the chapter examines whether school-to-work transition probabilities for these countries differ for males and females and to what extent. Additionally, the crisis’ impact on the individual’s labor market position is studied by country and by sex with the use of mobility indices.

8.1. Introduction

The study of transitions between employment, unemployment and inactivity and their evolution over time is crucial for the comprehension of labor market dynamics. Transition probabilities and school-to-work transitions are of utmost importance for understanding the mechanisms of the labor market and for enabling their modeling. Numerous attempts to model labor market transitions can be found in the literature (Brzinsky-Fay 2007; Ward-Warmedinge et al. 2013; Flek and Mysikova 2015; Symeonaki and Stamatopoulou 2015).

The main ...