Are married immigrant women secondary workers?

What is it about?

Do married immigrant women behave as secondary workers, remaining marginally attached to the labor market and experiencing little career progression over time? Our results show that these women rather conform to patterns recently exhibited by married native women elsewhere, with rising participation and wage progression. At best, only relatively uneducated immigrant women in unskilled occupations may fit the profile of secondary workers, with slow skill mobility and low-status job-traps. Educated immigrant women, on the other hand, experience skill assimilation over time: a reduction in physical strength and an increase in analytical skills required in their jobs relative to those of natives.

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Why is it important?

Understanding the choices that immigrants make in the host country is of vital importance for countries receiving large immigrant flows. It is difficult to properly estimate the labour choice of women as these are interlinked with other vital choices regarding fertility and education. This is only more so the case for immigrant women, who are making the transition to a new country. Our study joins others in calling attention to how a commonly held view about the labour market intentions of immigrant women might no longer be relevant