In this chapter, the authors study the labour market dynamics of men and women in El Salvador and Nicaragua, focusing on the factors that help men and women move into an advantageous labour market state from an unfavourable state and whether these factors differ between men and women, specifically examining the influence of specific characteristics and personal characteristics in this process. They consider ‘advantageous’ states to be formal wage-employees and self-employed workers with a decent income or a successful and growing firm. Among the findings are that education and access to public services, such as utilities, promote transitions into advantageous states.

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