Economic Assimilation of Women and Families in the Age of Mass Migration

Zachary Ward

No 35332, NBER Working Papers from National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc

Abstract: During the Age of Mass Migration, over forty percent of immigrants were women, yet most research focuses on men. Using linked 1900 and 1910 Census records, I show that economic assimilation patterns differed for men and women, and families assimilated at different rates than individuals. Immigrant families improved their relative income scores compared with US-born families, driven by reliance on multiple earners, particularly women’s and children’s labor. At the individual level, gaps between immigrant and US-born income scores were larger for women than men, and the gap for women barely changed even after twenty years of stay.

JEL-codes: J61 J62 N31 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026-06
Note: DAE
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