The information gathered in these surveys indicates that the growth rates of the female labour supply are inversely related to the growth rates for the number of hours devoted to domestic labour, on average. The latter also exhibit patterns similar to those observed for economic growth. Economic openness, on the other hand, correlates positively with growth in the case of the lagged variable (1.8%), reflecting these economies' export orientation. The external crisis variable used for the first two quarters of 2003 in Argentina and Uruguay and from the second quarter of 2009 onward for all the countries had a negative effect equivalent to about 3% on GDP growth.