Public Employment And Women: The Impact Of Argentina's Jefes Program On Female Heads Of Poor Households

In 2002, Argentina implemented a large-scale public employment program to deal with the latest economic crisis and the ensuing massive unemployment and poverty. The program, known as Plan Jefes, offered part-time work for unemployed heads of households, and yet more than 70 percent of the people who turned up for work were women. The present paper evaluates the operation of this program, its macroeconomic effects, and its impact on program participants. The authors report findings from the 2005 meetings with policymakers and visits to different project sites.