The Labor Force Participation and Earnings Gap among African Immigrant Women in the U.S.A.

Abstract

Research on the socioeconomic attainment of immigrants has increased in recent decades. But there is a lot to be discovered in this area, especially the labor force participation and earnings of African immigrant women in the U.S.A. In this article, we use the 5% Integrated Public Use Microdata Samples (IPUMS) to examine changes in size and composition of the female African immigrant population in the U.S.A. and differences in the labor force participation and earnings between black and white African immigrant women during the period of 1980–2008. The results show that the female African immigrant population increased by an annual average growth rate of 23% between 1980 and 2008, with a much higher growth among black female Africans (81%) than whites (5%). The racial composition shifted from a white majority (68%) in 1980 to a black majority (72%) in 2008. Multivariate analysis of the labor force participation and personal earnings showed that the white advantage echoed in previous research had disappeared in 2008 when black African women became more likely to be in the labor force participation and to earn higher income than their white counterparts, net of the effects of socio-demographic variables. Such results challenge the labor queue theory, which assumes that white people have an absolute advantage in American job market.