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Gender and Ethnicity-Married Immigrants in Britain

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Author Info
Christian Dustmann () (Department of Economics and Centre for Research and Analysis of Migration (CReAM), University College London)
Francesca Fabbri () (Department of Economics, University of Munich)

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Abstract

In this paper we investigate economic activity of female immigrants and their husbands in Britain. We distinguish between two immigrant groups: foreign born females who belong to an ethnic minority group and their husbands, and foreign born females who are white and their husbands. We compare these to native born white women and their husbands. Our analysis deviates from the usual mean analysis and investigates employment, hours worked and earnings for males and females, as well as their combined family earnings, along the distribution of husbands’ economic potential. We analyse the extent to which economic disadvantage may be reinforced on the household level. We investigate to what extent disadvantage can be explained by differences in observable characteristics. We analyse employment assimilation for all groups over the migration cycle. Our main results are that white female immigrants and their husbands are quite successful, with an overall advantage in earnings over white native born both individually and at the household level. On the other hand, minority immigrants and their husbands are less successful, in particular at the lower end of the husband’s distribution of economic potential. This is mainly due to low employment of both genders, which leads to disadvantage in earnings, intensified at the household level. Only part of this differential can be explained by observable characteristics. Over the migration cycle, the data suggests that employment differentials are large at entry for white immigrant females, and even larger for minority females, but the gap to the native born closes. Assimilation is more rapid for white females.

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Paper provided by Centre for Research and Analysis of Migration (CReAM), Department of Economics, University College London in its series CReAM Discussion Paper Series with number 0502.

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Date of creation: Aug 2005
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Handle: RePEc:crm:wpaper:0502

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Keywords: Migration; Ethnicity; Attitudes;

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  1. 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. [Downloadable!]
  2. Christian Dustmann & Francesca Fabbri, 2003. "Language proficiency and labour market performance of immigrants in the UK," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 113(489), pages 695-717, 07. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  3. 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 705-27, September. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  4. Cobb-Clark, Deborah A, 1993. "Immigrant Selectivity and Wages: The Evidence for Women," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 83(4), pages 986-93, September. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  5. 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. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  6. Barry T. Hirsch & Edward J. Schumacher, 2004. "Match Bias in Wage Gap Estimates Due to Earnings Imputation," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 22(3), pages 689-722, July. [Downloadable!]
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  7. Dustmann, Christian & Schmidt, Christoph M, 2001. "The Wage Performance of Immigrant Women: Full-Time Jobs, Part-Time Jobs and the Role of Selection," CEPR Discussion Papers 2702, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  8. Borjas, George J, 1985. "Assimilation, Changes in Cohort Quality, and the Earnings of Immigrants," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 3(4), pages 463-89, October. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  9. Francine D. Blau & Lawrence M. Kahn & Joan Y. Moriarty & Andre Portela Souza, 2002. "The Role of the Family in Immigrants' Labor-Market Activity: Evidence from the United States," NBER Working Papers 9051, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  10. Cobb-Clark, Deborah A. & Crossley, Thomas F., 2001. "Gender, Comparative Advantage and Labor Market Activity in Immigrant Families," IZA Discussion Papers 293, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA). [Downloadable!]
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  11. Lillard, Lee & Smith, James P & Welch, Finis, 1986. "What Do We Really Know about Wages? The Importance of Nonreporting and Census Imputation," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 94(3), pages 489-506, June. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  12. Gregg, Paul & Wadsworth, Jonathan, 2001. " Everything You Ever Wanted to Know about Measuring Worklessness and Polarization at the Household Level but Were Afraid to Ask," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 63(0), pages 777-806, Special I. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  13. Paul Gregg and Jonathan Wadsworth, 2004. "Two Sides to Every Story : Measuring the Polarisation of Work," Royal Holloway, University of London: Discussion Papers in Economics 04/03, Department of Economics, Royal Holloway University of London, revised Apr 2004. [Downloadable!]
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  14. Marco Manacorda, 2004. "Can the Scala Mobile Explain the Fall and Rise of Earnings Inequality in Italy? A Semiparametric Analysis, 19771993," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 22(3), pages 585-614, July. [Downloadable!]
  15. Long, James E, 1980. "The Effect of Americanization on Earnings: Some Evidence for Women," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 88(3), pages 620-29, June. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  16. Andrew Dilnot & Michael Kell, 1987. "Male unemployment and women's work," Fiscal Studies, Institute for Fiscal Studies, vol. 8(3), pages 1-16, August.
  17. Xin Meng & Robert G. Gregory, 2005. "Intermarriage and the Economic Assimilation of Immigrants," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 23(1), pages 135-176, January. [Downloadable!]
  18. Juhn, Chinhui & Murphy, Kevin M, 1997. "Wage Inequality and Family Labor Supply," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 15(1), pages 72-97, January. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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(explanations, Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.)

  1. Zaiceva, Anzelika & Zimmermann, Klaus F, 2007. "Children, Kitchen, Church: Does Ethnicity Matter?," CEPR Discussion Papers 6491, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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