Migrant women labor-force participation in Germany: Human capital, segmented labor market, and gender perspectives

Veronika J. Knize Estrada
Additional contact information
Veronika J. Knize Estrada: Institute for Employment Research (IAB), Nuremberg, Germany ; FAU

No 201812, IAB-Discussion Paper from Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany]

Abstract: "This paper analyzes individual, structural, and cultural factors that influence the labor-force participation of migrant women in Germany. Considering the well-established evidence that immigrant women work less than natives, with statuses and earnings differing significantly between them, I investigate the economic activity of the former by examining the cross-sectional data from the IAB-SOEP Migration Sample 2013 with multiple linear regression techniques. This evaluation is supported by three approaches which offer explanations for their employment behavior: human capital theory, segmented labor market theory, and the less examined in German research cultural hypothesis. Migrant women's employment status is, in principle, one's decision as member of a household; nevertheless, it is embedded in cross-national cultural processes and also constrained by structures; e.g., by employers and institutions. The analysis shows that classic human capital elements appear to be less reliable predictors of women's labor supply: higher education attained abroad is only marginally related to women participating in the workforce. The Middle-Eastern and North African origin, the Muslim religion, and higher levels of religiosity are negatively associated to women's labor participation reflecting a traditional gendered work division. This effect is minimized when controlling for German education, however. I argue that the lower labor-force participation among migrant women is partially explained by the fact that immigrants are on average less educated and more traditional than natives, having skills that are only restrictively transferable into the German labor market." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

Keywords: Bundesrepublik Deutschland; ausländische Arbeitnehmer; ausländische Frauen; Einwanderer; Erwerbsbeteiligung; Herkunftsland; Humankapitalansatz; institutionelle Faktoren; kulturelle Faktoren; Muslime; Qualifikationsstruktur; IAB-SOEP-Migrationsstichprobe; Segmentationstheorie; Arbeitsmarktsegmentation; 2013-2013 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J15 J70 O15 Z12 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 99 pages
Date: 2018
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-lab and nep-mig
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (8)

Downloads: (external link)
https://doku.iab.de/discussionpapers/2018/dp1218.pdf

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:iab:iabdpa:201812

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in IAB-Discussion Paper from Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany] Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by IAB, Geschäftsbereich Wissenschaftliche Fachinformation und Bibliothek ().