Analyzing the labor market activity of immigrant families in Germany

Leilanie Basilio, Thomas Bauer (thomas.bauer@rwi-essen.de) and Mathias Sinning (mathias.sinning@anu.edu.au)

Labour Economics, 2009, vol. 16, issue 5, 510-520

Abstract: This paper analyzes whether immigrant families facing credit constraints adopt a family investment strategy wherein, upon arrival, an immigrant spouse invests in host country-specific human capital while the other partner works to finance the family's current consumption and the spouse's skills accumulation. Using data for West Germany, we do not find evidence for such a specialization strategy. We further examine the labor supply and wage assimilation of families whose members immigrated together relative to families whose members immigrated sequentially. Our estimates indicate that this differentiation is relevant for the analysis of the labor market activities of migrant households.

Keywords: International; migration; Assimilation; Family; investment; hypothesis (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2009
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (21)

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Related works:
Working Paper: Analyzing the Labor Market Activity of Immigrant Families in Germany (2007)
Working Paper: Analyzing the Labor Market Activity of Immigrant Families in Germany (2007)
Working Paper: Analyzing the Labor Market Activity of Immigrant Families in Germany (2007)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:labeco:v:16:y:2009:i:5:p:510-520

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