Examining ethno-religious labor market inequalities among women in the Netherlands

Abstract

This study examines inequalities in labor market outcomes between ethnic-majority women and Muslim-minority women with a Moroccan or Turkish background in the Netherlands. It provides a comprehensive assessment of ethno-religious labor market gaps and investigates how a relatively broad range of explanatory factors are (differently) related to these gaps. We use nationally representative data from the Netherlands Longitudinal Lifecourse Study (2009), which oversamples minorities and contains high-quality measures of a comparatively broad array of potential explanations. Results reveal that Muslim-minority women less often have paid work, face longer job-search periods and hold lower status jobs than majority women. Interestingly, minority women work more hours than majority women in the Netherlands. These gaps are generally smaller for the second generation than the first generation. Our results show that human capital is a key factor that is associated with ethno-religious labor market gaps, but social capital, family features, gender role attitudes and veiling also play a role. Gaps in search duration and job status can be accounted for by these explanatory factors to a greater extent than those for paid work. Moreover, explanatory factors are related to the different gaps in different ways.