[Labor supply and economic fluctuations: Brazil, 1979-1986]

"The purpose of this article is to study how the Brazilian labor supply responded to the business cycle of the period 1979-1986. In doing so, the article analyzes the growth and the structure of the Brazilian labor force as well as its demographic traits over that time span. The analysis focuses on the cyclical sensitivity of the labor force participation rate (LFPR) of particular labor force groups. The study breaks down the LFPR by age, sex, schooling and family income. The main finding is that the labor supply measured by the time series behavior of the LFPR is sensitive to the business cycle although the direction and the degree of responsiveness varies among labor force groups." (SUMMARY IN ENG)