Wage Inequality and the Feminization of Precarity in the Digital Labor Market in Mexico

This chapter examines gender wage inequality in digital labor in Mexico between 2005 and 2023. Its primary objective is to assess how digital platforms reproduce or amplify wage gaps and unequal working conditions for women. The central hypothesis is that digital labor has not contributed to closing the gender wage gap in Mexico during this period; on the contrary, it has adapted the structural inequalities of the traditional labor market to new technological dynamics. To test this hypothesis, we analyze data from the National Survey of Occupation and Employment using the Juhn-Murphy-Pierce decomposition method, which allows for a breakdown of the wage gap into observable and unobservable components. Findings reveal that although women’s participation in digital labor has increased, it is predominantly characterized by more precarious conditions: higher levels of informality, lower access to well-paid positions, and persistent wage disparities—particularly at the lower percentiles of the wage distribution. While the explained portion of the wage gap has narrowed due to improvements in women’s educational attainment and work experience, the unexplained component remains significant. The chapter concludes that digital platforms have not eliminated gender-based inequalities; rather, they have reshaped and perpetuated them within new technological frameworks.