Gender and Economic Outcomes of Moroccans and Romanians in Spain

What is it about?

In this study, we compare labor force outcomes of the two largest immigrant communities in Spain (Moroccans and Romanians) before the economic crisis hit. We are interested in understanding if and how gender influences the labor force outcomes (wage per hour, labor force participation, and unemployment rate) of these two immigrant groups. Our analyses show that, overall, gender is an important variable on Spanish labor market, but it affects differently the two groups. There is a male job market and a female job market for both Romanian and Moroccan immigrants, with men earning significantly higher wages than women. However, while for Moroccans, working women differ significantly from men in terms of demographic characteristics, Romanian women and men have similar demographic characteristics and comparable levels of labor force participation, but differ in terms of wage levels.

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Why is it important?

The comparative empirical analysis of the two groups of immigrants in Spain is illustrating how relevant is the segmented labour market theory (Michael Piore) for the migration process connecting Spain as destination and Morocco and Romania as origins.

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