Contrasting Trajectories of Labor-Market Integration Between Migrant Women in Western and Southern Europe

  • Michael S. Rendall
  • Flavia Tsang
  • Jennifer K. Rubin
  • Lila Rabinovich
  • Barbara Janta
Article
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Accepted:

Abstract

The labor-market assimilation hypothesis predicts poorer initial labor-market outcomes among immigrants followed by convergence toward the outcomes of the native-born working-age population with time lived in the receiving country. We investigate the applicability of this hypothesis to migrant women’s labor-force participation in Europe. We compare labor-force participation rate (LFPR) gaps between migrant and native-born women in nine European countries, and examine how these LFPR gaps change with migrant women’s additional years in the receiving country. Consistent with the assimilation hypothesis, the LFPRs of migrant women in the “old” migrant-receiving countries of Western Europe begin much lower than for otherwise-comparable native-born women and converge, although not always completely, toward the LFPRs of native-born women with additional years lived in the country. In the “new” migrant-receiving countries of Southern Europe, however, the LFPRs of migrant women at all durations of residence are similar to those of native-born women. Additional descriptive evidence of high unemployment and under-employment and of difficulty achieving family work balance among Western European migrant women points toward receiving-country context as a major explanation for these empirical patterns.

Keywords

Immigrants Labor market Integration Europe 

Trajectoires d’intégration des immigrées sur le marché du travail: une comparaison entre l’Europe de l’Ouest et l’Europe du Sud

Résumé

L’hypothèse de l’assimilation des immigrés sur le marché du travail prévoit des résultats initiaux médiocres, suivis de résultats qui convergent avec ceux observés auprès de la population autochtone en âge de travailler lorsque la durée de séjour dans le pays d’accueil augmente. Nous avons cherché à tester si de cette hypothèse s’applique bien aux femmes immigrées sur le marché du travail en Europe. Nous avons comparé les écarts entre taux d’activité des immigrées et des femmes autochtones dans neuf pays européens, et étudié comment ces écarts se modifient selon le nombre d’années passées dans le pays d’accueil. En accord avec l’hypothèse d’assimilation, les taux d’activité des immigrées dans les “vieux” pays d’accueil de l’Europe de l’Ouest, sont au départ beaucoup plus faibles que ceux de femmes autochtones ayant des caractéristiques comparables, et convergent, pas toujours totalement, vers ceux-ci lorsque la durée de séjour dans le pays d’accueil augmente. En revanche, dans les “nouveaux” pays d’accueil de l’Europe du Sud, les taux d’activité des immigrées sont semblables à ceux des femmes autochtones, quelle que soit la durée de résidence. D’autres éléments descriptifs tels que chômage élevé, sous-emploi, difficulté de concilier famille et travail pour les immigrées en Europe de l’Ouest montrent que le contexte du pays d’accueil est primordial dans l’explication de ces tendances observées.

Mots-clés

Immigrés Marché du travail Intégration Europe 
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Notes

Acknowledgments

The authors gratefully acknowledge financial support for the project “The role of migrant women workers in the EU labor market: Current situation and future prospects,” contract PM-2326-EC from the European Commission, Directorate-General for Employment, Social Affairs, and Equal Opportunities. The results and conclusions are ours and not those of Eurostat, the European Commission, or any of the national authorities whose data have been used. They do not necessarily represent the Commission’s official position.

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Copyright information

© Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2010

Authors and Affiliations

  • Michael S. Rendall
    • 1
  • Flavia Tsang
    • 2
  • Jennifer K. Rubin
    • 2
  • Lila Rabinovich
    • 1
  • Barbara Janta
    • 2
  1. 1.RAND CorporationSanta MonicaUSA
  2. 2.RAND Europe, Westbrook CentreCambridgeUK

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