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The Effect of Housework on Wages: A Study of Migrants and Native-Born Individuals in Germany

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  • Tanja Fendel

    (Institute for Employment Research (IAB))

Abstract

To increase labour market participation among migrants, an increase in female labour market participation is important, with wages being a significant incentive. In research on the gender wage gap, the consideration of housework has been a milestone. Gender differences in housework time have always been much greater among migrants than among native-born individuals. Based on data obtained from the German Socio-Economic Panel from 1995 to 2017, this study questioned whether housework affects the wages of migrant full-time workers differently than those of their native-born counterparts. To consider the possible endogeneity of housework in the wage equation, the analysis estimated, in addition to an OLS model, a hybrid model to estimate within effects. Significant negative effects of housework on wages resulted for migrant women and native-born individuals. The effects for migrant men were significantly smaller or insignificant, which could not be explained by threshold effects. The greater amount of time spent on housework by migrant women than by native-born women will in general lead to a larger wage decrease due to housework for migrant women than for native-born women. The results further showed that the observed variables explained very little of the migrants’ gender wage gap, in contrast to the gap of native-born individuals. Human capital returns, including education and work experiences, were much lower for migrant women than for native-born women, whereas differences in housework equally contributed to the explained share of the gap for both groups, indicating the greater relevance of housework for migrants’ wage gap.

Suggested Citation

  • Tanja Fendel, 2021. "The Effect of Housework on Wages: A Study of Migrants and Native-Born Individuals in Germany," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 42(3), pages 473-488, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:jfamec:v:42:y:2021:i:3:d:10.1007_s10834-020-09733-5
    DOI: 10.1007/s10834-020-09733-5
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    Cited by:

    1. Athary Janiso & Prakash Kumar Shukla & Bheemeshwar Reddy A, 2021. "What Explains Gender Gap in Unpaid Household and Care Work in India?," Papers 2106.15376, arXiv.org, revised Jul 2021.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Household production; Wages; Female migrant labour market integration;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D13 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Household Production and Intrahouse Allocation
    • J16 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination
    • F22 - International Economics - - International Factor Movements and International Business - - - International Migration

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