Female labour participation rates and sectoral distribution of employment across countries (2019) 

Click here to see the code that was used to produce this figure using R.

This scatterplot shows a gaussian regression that illustrates the U-shaped relationship between female labour participation rates and the sectoral distribution of employment across countries. The data was obtained from the World Bank and it considers 187 countries during 2019. The figure shows that FLPRs are higher in agricultural countries, they experience a decline in industrial countries, and they rise again in service-oriented countries. Finally, the figure shows that Mexico is part of the downward portion of the U-shaped curve. 

On the left-hand side of the figure are those countries with the highest percentage of jobs in the agricultural sector. They were classified as mainly agrarian if the percentage of jobs in the agricultural sector ranges from 40% to 80%. In the centre of the figure are the top industrial countries, which have more than 30% of jobs in this sector. On the right-hand side of the figure are the service-oriented countries, which have more than 65% of their jobs in this sector. 

Finally, there are two complementary classifications. Those countries classified as agro-industrial have between 25% and 40% of their jobs in the agricultural sector, and less than 30% of their jobs in the industrial sector. On the other hand, those classified as industrial-service economies have more than 50% of their jobs in the service sector and less than 30% of their jobs in the industrial sector. Although this is an arbitrary classification, it illustrates five different stages of economic development based on the sectoral distribution of employment across countries. 

According to data from the World Bank, the sectoral distribution of employment in Mexico during 2019 was 15% in agriculture, 26% in industry and 59% in services. Therefore, Mexico is classified as an industrial-service economy. The figure shows that Mexico is part of the downward portion of the U-shaped relationship while suggesting that, in the coming years, Mexico will be part of the service-oriented economies. If Mexico follows the pattern, at that stage of economic development there will be a rise of female labour participation rates in the country.