Culture, intermarriage, and differentials in second-generation immigrant women's labor supply

Arbeitspapier

We examine the impact of culture on the work behavior of second-generation immigrant women in Canada. We contribute to the current literature by analyzing the role of intermarriage in intergenerational transmission of culture and its subsequent effect on labor market outcomes. Using relative female labor force participation and total fertility rates in the country of ancestry as cultural proxies, we find that culture matters for the female labor supply. Cultural proxies are significant in explaining number of hours worked by second-generation women with immigrant parents. More importantly, we show that the impact of cultural proxies is significantly larger for women with immigrant parents who share same ethnic background than for those with intermarried parents. The fact that the effect of culture is weaker for women who were raised in intermarried families stresses the importance of intermarriage in assimilation process. Our results are robust to different specifications and estimation strategies.

Object Details

• Language: Englisch

References and Relationships

• Bibliographic citation: Series: IZA Discussion Papers ; No. 6043

Classification and Topics

• Classification: Wirtschaft ; Marriage; Marital Dissolution; Family Structure; Domestic Abuse ; Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination ; Time Allocation and Labor Supply ; Geographic Labor Mobility; Immigrant Workers
• Subject: culture ; labor supply ; immigrant women ; intermarriage ; Weibliche Arbeitskräfte ; Arbeitsangebot ; Migranten ; Wirtschaftskultur ; Ehe ; Schätzung ; Kanada

Contributors, Places and Time

• Event: Geistige Schöpfung
• (who): Gevrek, Z. Eylem ; Gevrek, Deniz ; Gupta, Sonam
• Event: Veröffentlichung
• (who): Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA)
• (where): Bonn
• (when): 2011

Further information

• Handle: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/58606
• URN: urn:nbn:de:101:1-201110263871
• Last update: 10.03.2025, 11:44 AM CET