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Culture and the Labor Supply of Female Immigrants

Author

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  • Julia Bredtmann

    (IZA Institute of Labour Economics)

  • Sebastian Otten

    (Universitaet Duisburg Essen)

Abstract

This paper analyzes the impact of source-country culture on the labor supply of female immigrants in Europe. We find that the labor supply of immigrant women is positively associated with the female-to-male labor force participation ratio in their source country, which serves as a proxy for the country’s preferences and beliefs regarding women’s roles. This suggests that the culture and norms of their source country play an important role for immigrant women’s labor supply. However, contradicting previous evidence for the U.S., we do not find evidence that the cultural effect persists through the second generation.

Suggested Citation

  • Julia Bredtmann & Sebastian Otten, 2022. "Culture and the Labor Supply of Female Immigrants," RF Berlin - CReAM Discussion Paper Series 2227, Rockwool Foundation Berlin (RF Berlin) - Centre for Research and Analysis of Migration (CReAM).
    • Handle: RePEc:crm:wpaper:2227
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Isaure Delaporte & Hill Kulu, 2024. "Family Formation and Employment Changes Among Descendants of Immigrants in France: A Multiprocess Analysis," European Journal of Population, Springer;European Association for Population Studies, vol. 40(1), pages 1-77, December.
    2. Victor Gay, 2023. "Culture: An Empirical Investigation of Beliefs, Work, and Fertility. A Verification and Reproduction of Fernández and Fogli (2009)," Post-Print hal-04194417, HAL.
    3. Åslund, Olof & Karimi, Arizo & Sundberg, Anton, 2025. "Origin, norms, and the motherhood penalty," Working Paper Series 2025:1, IFAU - Institute for Evaluation of Labour Market and Education Policy.
    4. Katharina Hartinger, 2023. "Individualism, Creativity, and Innovation," Working Papers 2313, Gutenberg School of Management and Economics, Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz.
    5. Bredtmann, Julia & Otten, Sebastian, 2025. "Natives’ gender norms and the labor market integration of female immigrants," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 185(C).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Female labor force participation; immigration; integration; culturaltransmission; epidemiological approach;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J16 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination
    • J22 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Time Allocation and Labor Supply
    • J61 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Geographic Labor Mobility; Immigrant Workers

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