Participation in informal labor markets: Evidence from unauthorized Latina immigrants in Los Angeles County

This dissertation investigates the reasons why women participate in informal economic activities. Relying on estimates of unauthorized Latina immigrants in Los Angeles County as a proxy for informal female workers, it provides one of the first quantitative analysis of the informal labor market in the region. After comparing the characteristics and labor market positions of informal Latina workers with those of others, the dissertation studies the role of occupational segregation and market segmentation in explaining these outcomes. Finally, it focuses on the processes by which women are segregated to specific occupations, including informal work, and emphasizes the intertwined roles of industry location, mobility, gender and ethnic networks.;While addressing a lack of explanations in the economic literature for the persistence of informality in advanced capitalist economies, the study borrows from diverse disciplines including economics, sociology, and geography. It builds a theoretical framework consistent with a post-structuralist emphasis on the interaction of structure and agency.;The empirical analysis leads to several important findings. First, informal Latina workers are found to be at the lowest echelon of the labor market. Second, discrimination and occupational segregation explain the largest proportion of the wage differential between informal and formal female workers, rejecting a strictly individual human capital model. Third, the geography of production is characterized by a local division of labor where informal industries tend to locate in proximity to low-cost labor (i.e. poor neighborhoods). Finally, the mobility of informal Latina workers is limited by the lack of affordable housing, public transportation, social capital and gender stereotypes. The presence of informal jobs in poor neighborhoods, coupled with the lack of mobility explains participation in informal economic activities and contributes to their reproduction.;Policy suggestions include the need to develop a regional growth policy embracing all neighborhoods of Los Angeles. It also emphasizes the importance of removing constraints to mobility through better housing and transportation policy. Finally, it highlights the need for education and organization of women to dismantle deeply rooted gender stereotypes.