Prostitution and Employment

Abstract

This paper aims to identify whether prostitution is seen as an income-smoothing opportunity for young women and the long- term effects of such a decision on their labor market outcomes. According to Verhoven (2017), sex workers often define themselves as entrepreneurs and their work choice as a possibility to improve their lives financially. To them, this type of work often carries a temporal aspect that’s preferred to overcome the financial hardships they face. Building on this motivation, we aim to measure the take- up of sex-work employment following economic distress as well as other important life shocks (divorce, becoming a parent etc) and evaluate the effects of working as a prostitute on these workers’ overall labor supply, fertility decisions, and earnings trajectory.