IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/eurpop/v26y2010i4d10.1007_s10680-010-9214-x.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Contrasting Trajectories of Labor-Market Integration Between Migrant Women in Western and Southern Europe
[Trajectoires d’intégration des immigrées sur le marché du travail: une comparaison entre l’Europe de l’Ouest et l’Europe du Sud]

Author

Listed:
  • Michael S. Rendall

    (RAND Corporation)

  • Flavia Tsang

    (RAND Europe, Westbrook Centre)

  • Jennifer K. Rubin

    (RAND Europe, Westbrook Centre)

  • Lila Rabinovich

    (RAND Corporation)

  • Barbara Janta

    (RAND Europe, Westbrook Centre)

Abstract

The labor-market assimilation hypothesis predicts poorer initial labor-market outcomes among immigrants followed by convergence toward the outcomes of the native-born working-age population with time lived in the receiving country. We investigate the applicability of this hypothesis to migrant women’s labor-force participation in Europe. We compare labor-force participation rate (LFPR) gaps between migrant and native-born women in nine European countries, and examine how these LFPR gaps change with migrant women’s additional years in the receiving country. Consistent with the assimilation hypothesis, the LFPRs of migrant women in the “old” migrant-receiving countries of Western Europe begin much lower than for otherwise-comparable native-born women and converge, although not always completely, toward the LFPRs of native-born women with additional years lived in the country. In the “new” migrant-receiving countries of Southern Europe, however, the LFPRs of migrant women at all durations of residence are similar to those of native-born women. Additional descriptive evidence of high unemployment and under-employment and of difficulty achieving family work balance among Western European migrant women points toward receiving-country context as a major explanation for these empirical patterns.

Suggested Citation

  • Michael S. Rendall & Flavia Tsang & Jennifer K. Rubin & Lila Rabinovich & Barbara Janta, 2010. "Contrasting Trajectories of Labor-Market Integration Between Migrant Women in Western and Southern Europe [Trajectoires d’intégration des immigrées sur le marché du travail: une comparaison entre l," European Journal of Population, Springer;European Association for Population Studies, vol. 26(4), pages 383-410, November.
  • Handle: RePEc:spr:eurpop:v:26:y:2010:i:4:d:10.1007_s10680-010-9214-x
    DOI: 10.1007/s10680-010-9214-x
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s10680-010-9214-x
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s10680-010-9214-x?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. David Card, 2005. "Is the New Immigration Really so Bad?," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 115(507), pages 300-323, November.
    2. Deborah A. Cobb‐Clark & Marie D. Connolly, 2001. "A Family Affair: The Labor Market Experience of Immigrant Spouses," Social Science Quarterly, Southwestern Social Science Association, vol. 82(4), pages 796-811, December.
    3. Harriet Duleep & Daniel Dowhan, 2002. "Insights from longitudinal data on the earnings growth of U.S. foreign-born men," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 39(3), pages 485-506, August.
    4. Blau, Francine D. & Kahn, Lawrence M. & Papps, Kerry L., 2008. "Gender, Source Country Characteristics and Labor Market Assimilation among Immigrants: 1980-2000," IZA Discussion Papers 3725, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    5. Bell, Brian D, 1997. "The Performance of Immigrants in the United Kingdom: Evidence from the GHS," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 107(441), pages 333-344, March.
    6. Thomas Liebig, 2007. "The Labour Market Integration of Immigrants in Australia," OECD Social, Employment and Migration Working Papers 49, OECD Publishing.
    7. Barry R. Chiswick & Yinon Cohen & Tzippi Zach, 1997. "The Labor Market Status of Immigrants: Effects of the Unemployment Rate at Arrival and Duration of Residence," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 50(2), pages 289-303, January.
    8. Thomas Liebig, 2007. "The Labour Market Integration of Immigrants in Germany," OECD Social, Employment and Migration Working Papers 47, OECD Publishing.
    9. Kalena E. Cortes, 2004. "Are Refugees Different from Economic Immigrants? Some Empirical Evidence on the Heterogeneity of Immigrant Groups in the United States," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 86(2), pages 465-480, May.
    10. George J. Borjas & Bernt Bratsberg, 2021. "Who Leaves? The Outmigration Of The Foreign-Born," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: Foundational Essays in Immigration Economics, chapter 5, pages 93-104, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    11. Reimers, Cordelia W, 1985. "Cultural Differences in Labor Force Participation among Married Women," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 75(2), pages 251-255, May.
    12. Antecol, Heather, 2000. "An examination of cross-country differences in the gender gap in labor force participation rates," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 7(4), pages 409-426, July.
    13. Francine D. Blau & Lawrence M. Kahn & Joan Y. Moriarty & Andre Portela Souza, 2003. "The Role of the Family in Immigrants' Labor-Market Activity: An Evaluation of Alternative Explanations: Comment," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 93(1), pages 429-447, March.
    14. Cortes, Kalena E., 2004. "Are Refugees Different from Economic Immigrants? Some Empirical Evidence on the Heterogeneity of Immigrant Groups in the United States," IZA Discussion Papers 1063, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    15. Thomas Liebig, 2007. "The Labour Market Integration of Immigrants in Denmark," OECD Social, Employment and Migration Working Papers 50, OECD Publishing.
    16. Dustmann, Christian, 2003. "Return migration, wage differentials, and the optimal migration duration," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 47(2), pages 353-369, April.
    17. Chiswick, Barry R, 1978. "The Effect of Americanization on the Earnings of Foreign-born Men," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 86(5), pages 897-921, October.
    18. Paul Boyle & Thomas Cooke & Keith Halfacree & Darren Smith, 2001. "A cross-national comparison of the impact of family migration on women’s employment status," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 38(2), pages 201-213, May.
    19. Mary L. Grant, 1999. "Evidence of New Immigrant Assimilation in Canada," Canadian Journal of Economics, Canadian Economics Association, vol. 32(4), pages 930-955, August.
    20. Uzi Rebhun, 2010. "Immigration, Gender, and Earnings in Israel," European Journal of Population, Springer;European Association for Population Studies, vol. 26(1), pages 73-97, February.
    21. Baker, Michael & Benjamin, Dwayne, 1997. "The Role of the Family in Immigrants' Labor-Market Activity: An Evaluation of Alternative Explanations," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 87(4), pages 705-727, September.
    22. WALTER S. McMANUS, 1985. "Labor Market Assimilation Of Immigrants: The Importance Of Language Skills," Contemporary Economic Policy, Western Economic Association International, vol. 3(3), pages 77-89, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Hill Kulu & Tina Hannemann, 2016. "Introduction to research on immigrant and ethnic minority families in Europe," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 35(2), pages 31-46.
    2. Allan Puur & Leen Rahnu & Liili Abuladze & Luule Sakkeus & Sergei Zakharov, 2017. "Childbearing among first- and second-generation Russians in Estonia against the background of the sending and host countries," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 36(41), pages 1209-1254.
    3. Tina Hannemann & Hill Kulu, 2015. "Union formation and dissolution among immigrants and their descendants in the United Kingdom," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 33(10), pages 273-312.
    4. Maarten Ham & Tiit Tammaru, 2011. "Ethnic Minority–Majority Unions in Estonia [Unions entre membres d'ethnies minoritaires et majoritaires en Estonie]," European Journal of Population, Springer;European Association for Population Studies, vol. 27(3), pages 313-335, August.
    5. Hana Urbancová & Monika Hudáková & Adéla Fajčíková, 2020. "Diversity Management as a Tool of Sustainability of Competitive Advantage," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(12), pages 1-16, June.
    6. Catia Nicodemo & Raul Ramos, 2012. "Wage differentials between native and immigrant women in Spain," International Journal of Manpower, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 33(1), pages 118-136, March.
    7. Alan Barrett & Elish Kelly, 2012. "The Impact of Ireland’s Recession on the Labour Market Outcomes of its Immigrants [L’impact de la récession en Irlande sur le devenir de ses immigrés sur le marché du travail]," European Journal of Population, Springer;European Association for Population Studies, vol. 28(1), pages 91-111, February.
    8. Tine Kil & Karel Neels & Jonas Wood & Helga A. G. Valk, 2018. "Employment After Parenthood: Women of Migrant Origin and Natives Compared," European Journal of Population, Springer;European Association for Population Studies, vol. 34(3), pages 413-440, August.
    9. Schieckoff, Bentley & Sprengholz, Maximilian, 2021. "The labor market integration of immigrant women in Europe: context, theory and evidence," Working Papers 02, University of Konstanz, Cluster of Excellence "The Politics of Inequality. Perceptions, Participation and Policies".
    10. Carla Pederzini & Liliana Meza, 2024. "Labor Force Participation of Central American Migrant Women in Mexico," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 13(3), pages 1-14, February.
    11. Nadja Milewski & Hill Kulu, 2014. "Mixed Marriages in Germany: A High Risk of Divorce for Immigrant-Native Couples," European Journal of Population, Springer;European Association for Population Studies, vol. 30(1), pages 89-113, February.
    12. Allan Puur & Leen Rahnu & Luule Sakkeus & Martin Klesment & Liili Abuladze, 2018. "The formation of ethnically mixed partnerships in Estonia: A stalling trend from a two-sided perspective," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 38(38), pages 1111-1154.
    13. Lisa Kaida, 2015. "Ethnic Variations in Immigrant Poverty Exit and Female Employment: The Missing Link," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 52(2), pages 485-511, April.
    14. Hill Kulu & Tina Hannemann, 2016. "Why does fertility remain high among certain UK-born ethnic minority women?," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 35(49), pages 1441-1488.
    15. Hill Kulu & Amparo González-Ferrer, 2014. "Family Dynamics Among Immigrants and Their Descendants in Europe: Current Research and Opportunities," European Journal of Population, Springer;European Association for Population Studies, vol. 30(4), pages 411-435, November.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Fernando Lozano, 2010. "Understanding the workweek of foreign born workers in the United States," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 8(1), pages 83-104, March.
    2. Smolny, Werner & Rieber, Alexander, 2016. "Labour market integration of immigrants - Evidence for the German guest workers," VfS Annual Conference 2016 (Augsburg): Demographic Change 145629, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    3. Dustmann, Christian & Glitz, Albrecht, 2011. "Migration and Education," Handbook of the Economics of Education, in: Erik Hanushek & Stephen Machin & Ludger Woessmann (ed.), Handbook of the Economics of Education, edition 1, volume 4, chapter 0, pages 327-439, Elsevier.
    4. David C. Ribar, 2013. "Immigrants’ time use: a survey of methods and evidence," Chapters, in: Amelie F. Constant & Klaus F. Zimmermann (ed.), International Handbook on the Economics of Migration, chapter 20, pages 373-392, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    5. Alicia Adsera & Barry Chiswick, 2007. "Are there gender and country of origin differences in immigrant labor market outcomes across European destinations?," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 20(3), pages 495-526, July.
    6. Lemos, Sara, 2017. "Mind the gap: A detailed picture of the immigrant-native earnings gap in the UK using longitudinal data between 1978 and 2006," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 63(C), pages 57-75.
    7. Ilana Redstone Akresh, 2008. "Occupational Trajectories of Legal US Immigrants: Downgrading and Recovery," Population and Development Review, The Population Council, Inc., vol. 34(3), pages 435-456, September.
    8. Crystal Zhan, 2015. "School and neighborhood: residential location choice of immigrant parents in the Los Angeles Metropolitan area," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 28(3), pages 737-783, July.
    9. Sari Pekkala Kerr & William R. Kerr, 2011. "Economic Impacts of Immigration: A Survey," Finnish Economic Papers, Finnish Economic Association, vol. 24(1), pages 1-32, Spring.
    10. Wielandt, Hanna, 2015. "Employment polarization and immigrant employment opportunities," SFB 649 Discussion Papers 2015-025, Humboldt University Berlin, Collaborative Research Center 649: Economic Risk.
    11. repec:hum:wpaper:sfb649dp2015-025 is not listed on IDEAS
    12. Stuart Campbell, 2014. "Does it matter why immigrants came here? Original motives, the labour market, and national identity in the UK," DoQSS Working Papers 14-14, Quantitative Social Science - UCL Social Research Institute, University College London.
    13. Uzi Rebhun, 2008. "A Double Disadvantage? Immigration, Gender, and Employment Status in Israel," European Journal of Population, Springer;European Association for Population Studies, vol. 24(1), pages 87-113, March.
    14. Francine Blau, 2015. "Immigrants and gender roles: assimilation vs. culture," IZA Journal of Migration and Development, Springer;Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 4(1), pages 1-21, December.
    15. Cahit Guven & Lan Anh Tong & Mutlu Yuksel, 2020. "Australia's Immigration Selection System and Labour Market Outcomes in a Family Context: Evidence from Administrative Data," The Economic Record, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 96(S1), pages 50-77, June.
    16. Dostie, Benoit & Li, Jiang & Card, David & Parent, Daniel, 2023. "Employer policies and the immigrant–native earnings gap," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 233(2), pages 544-567.
    17. Hamori, Szilvia, 2009. "Employment convergence of immigrants in the EU: Differences across genders, regions of origin and destination," HWWI Research Papers 3-20, Hamburg Institute of International Economics (HWWI).
    18. Ran Abramitzky & Leah Boustan, 2017. "Immigration in American Economic History," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 55(4), pages 1311-1345, December.
    19. Garnett Picot & Patrizio Piraino, 2013. "Immigrant earnings growth: selection bias or real progress?," Canadian Journal of Economics, Canadian Economics Association, vol. 46(4), pages 1510-1536, November.
    20. Frederik Thuesen & Vibeke Jakobsen & Nina T. Dalgaard & Bjørn C. A. Viinholt, 2020. "PROTOCOL: Interventions to improve the economic self‐sufficiency of unemployed immigrants from non‐Western countries," Campbell Systematic Reviews, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 16(4), December.
    21. Francine D. Blau & Lawrence M. Kahn, 2011. "Substitution Between Individual and Cultural Capital: Pre-Migration Labor Supply, Culture and US Labor Market Outcomes Among Immigrant Women," NBER Working Papers 17275, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:spr:eurpop:v:26:y:2010:i:4:d:10.1007_s10680-010-9214-x. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.