The impact of remittances on gender-specific labor force participation in the tourism sector: evidence from the Yucatán Peninsula, Mexico

Abstract

Remittances have been a mechanism for promoting micro-enterprises, an effect that can translate into increased tourism-related activity. The objective of this paper is to estimate the impact of internal and international remittances on labor force participation in wage employment and self-employment within the tourism sector, and to assess whether these effects differ by gender. Using a Propensity Score Matching model and data from the 2024 ENIGH for the Yucatán Peninsula—a region representative of tourism activity and characterized by significant remittance inflows—we find that remittances are one of the factors that reshape patterns of labor participation. Consistent with the literature that identifies remittances as a mechanism for relaxing liquidity constraints and promoting microenterprises, women receiving both internal and international remittances exhibit a higher probability of participating in the tourism sector through self-employment. This pattern is potentially explained by the tendency of women to channel these resources into autonomous livelihood strategies, particularly in households with a higher number of children, larger household size, lower levels of higher education among household heads, and stronger rural and indigenous ties. In contrast, for men, internal remittances appear to function as a mechanism of labor substitution in wage employment within the tourism sector, while international remittances are associated with substitution toward self-employment in tourism.