Research Department Working Paper n°53

Gender inequality and old-age income security: The case of Mexico

This paper profiles various work-related dimensions of Mexico’s ageing women and men and explores implications of existing policies and work characteristics on future dependency scenarios. Mexico remains dependent on informal work and low wages for maintaining high employment levels. Low labour participation of women accounts for relatively high and growing levels of economic dependency for the country. This study uncovers an ongoing economic reliance on old-age male work and a high share of old-aged individuals who lack social security coverage, more of whom are women. The analysis also finds that roughly a quarter of retired workers rely neither on pensions nor work, raising concern over potentially dire income insecurity in the future.