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How do mining booms impact the labor market for men and women? Evidence from Indonesia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 December 2024

Fatima Aqeel Open the ORCID record for Fatima Aqeel [Opens in a new window]
Fatima Aqeel*
Affiliation:
Department of Economics, Colgate University, Hamilton, NY, USA
*
Corresponding author: Fatima Aqeel; Email: faqeel@colgate.edu
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Abstract

We examine the effects of mining booms in Indonesia on labor market outcomes using exogenous price changes and 452 mines. We do this using labor force surveys between the years 1998 and 2011, and four waves of individual panel data between 1997 and 2014. Surprisingly, female incomes grow during mining booms, not because women work more, but because their work moves from the agricultural to the service sector where paid work is more common. Men experience mixed labor market changes. High average mining incomes attract male labor to mining districts, allowing for some adjustment of labor supply to demand. Suggestive evidence also shows that informal work increases marginally for men, potentially in auxiliary mining jobs. A male dominated industry that supports economic opportunities for women can unexpectedly benefit women as well.

Keywords

developmentgenderstructural changeoccupational choice

JEL classification

O15: Human Resources • Human Development • Income Distribution • Migration J12: Marriage • Marital Dissolution • Family Structure • Domestic Abuse J24: Human Capital • Skills • Occupational Choice • Labor Productivity J16: Economics of Gender • Non-labor Discrimination

Information

Type
Research Article
Information
Environment and Development Economics , Volume 30 , Issue 3 , June 2025 , pp. 177 - 201
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2024. Published by Cambridge University Press

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