Determinants of Employment of Recently Arrived Mexican Immigrant Wives

Abstract

Women are playing an increasing role in Mexican immigrant flows to the United States and are becoming more involved in the Mexican immigrant workforce in this country. Unfortunately, relatively little attention has been paid to their post-immigration labor market experiences. This study, based on data from the 1990 Public-Use Microdata Sample (PUMS), focuses on a multilevel analysis of the determinants of employment among married Mexican-origin women who immigrated to the United States in the 1980s. The analytical model incorporates the individual wife's human capital, family household resources, and the areal structural labor market conditions that describe the local labor environment. From this model, nine hypotheses are derived and examined through logistic regression. The results provide support for all but two of the hypotheses.