Unemployment by gender and gender catching-up. Empirical evidence from the italian regions

We examine the dynamic behaviour of unemployment rates by gender and of the gender unemployment gap over the 1992-2009 period by Italian regions. The results from unit root tests with unknown structural breaks indicate that the gender unemployment gap has narrowed in most cases. However, the pace of catching-up and the dynamic behaviour characterizing the individual unemployment series differ substantially from one region to another. We comment on our results in the light of the reforms applied in the Italian labour market over the last two decades.