The Labor Force Trajectories of Immigrant Women in the United States: Intersecting Individual and Gendered Cohort Characteristics

Abstract

Research on immigrant women's labor market incorporation has increased in recent years, yet systematic comparisons of employment trajectories by national origin and over time remain rare. Likewise, the literature on immigrant assimilation remains dominated by attention to men, with little focus on larger gendered migration dynamics. Using US Census and ACS data from 1990 to 2016, we construct synthetic migration cohorts by national/regional origin, period, and age at arrival to track immigrant women's labor force participation (LFP) over time. We propose and model a typology of workforce incorporation, adjusting for individual characteristics and gendered migration-cohort characteristics (i.e., the gender ratio, share of women arriving single, and share of men arriving with a college education). Results indicate that immigrant women gradually join the workforce over time, though with significant variation in starting employment levels and growth rates. We classify the observed patterns into a five-group typology: Gradual incorporation (cohorts from Europe, Canada, Africa, China, and Vietnam), delayed incorporation with low entry LFP level (cohorts from Mexico), delayed incorporation with moderate entry LFP level (cohorts from Central America, South America, and Cuba), accelerated incorporation (cohorts from India, Korea, and other Asian countries), and continuous intensive employment (cohorts from the Philippines and the Caribbean). We show that gendered migration cohort characteristics explain a substantial share of national/regional origin variation in immigrant women's workforce participation, highlighting the importance of broader cultural and structural forces shaping gendered patterns of immigrant labor market incorporation.