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Can Immigrants Help Women "Have it All"? Immigrant Labor and Women's Joint Fertility and Labor Supply Decisions

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  • Furtado, Delia

    (University of Connecticut)

Abstract

This paper explores how inflows of low-skilled immigrants impact the tradeoffs women face when making joint fertility and labor supply decisions. I find increases in fertility and decreases in labor force participation rates among high skilled US-born women in cities that have experienced larger immigrant inflows. Most interestingly, these changes have been accompanied by decreases in the strength of the negative correlation between childbearing and labor force participation, an often-used measure of the difficulty with which women combine motherhood and labor market work. Using a structured statistical model, I show that the immigrant-induced attenuation of this negative correlation can explain about 24 percent of the immigrant-induced increases in the joint likelihood of childbearing and labor force participation in the U.S. between the years 1980 and 2000.

Suggested Citation

  • Furtado, Delia, 2014. "Can Immigrants Help Women "Have it All"? Immigrant Labor and Women's Joint Fertility and Labor Supply Decisions," IZA Discussion Papers 8614, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    • Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp8614
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    Cited by:

    1. Emanuele Forlani & Elisabetta Lodigiani & Concetta Mendolicchio, 2021. "Natives and migrants in home production: the case of Germany," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 19(4), pages 1275-1307, December.
    2. Delia Furtado, 2016. "Fertility Responses of High-Skilled Native Women to Immigrant Inflows," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 53(1), pages 27-53, February.
    3. Joan Llull, 2021. "Immigration and Gender Differences in the Labor Market," Journal of Human Capital, University of Chicago Press, vol. 15(1), pages 174-203.
    4. Almuhaisen, Abdulmohsen & Amuedo-Dorantes, Catalina & Furtado, Delia, 2024. "Immigration enforcement and the institutionalization of elderly Americans," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 94(C).
    5. Isabel Ruiz & Carlos Vargas‐Silva, 2018. "The impact of hosting refugees on the intra‐household allocation of tasks: A gender perspective," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 22(4), pages 1461-1488, November.
    6. Isabel Ruiz & Carlos Vargas‐Silva, 2018. "The impact of hosting refugees on the intra‐household allocation of tasks: A gender perspective," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 22(4), pages 1461-1488, November.
    7. Delia Furtado, 2015. "Immigrant labor and work-family decisions of native-born women," IZA World of Labor, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA), pages 139-139, April.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    immigration; labor force participation; fertility; child care; tetrachoric correlation;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D10 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - General
    • F22 - International Economics - - International Factor Movements and International Business - - - International Migration
    • J13 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Fertility; Family Planning; Child Care; Children; Youth
    • J22 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Time Allocation and Labor Supply
    • R23 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Household Analysis - - - Regional Migration; Regional Labor Markets; Population

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