The labor market participation of recently-arrived immigrant women in Germany

Bentley Schieckoff,Claudia Diehl

doi:10.20377/jfr-462

Abstract

Objective: This article investigates the role of motivation in female immigrants' labour force participation. Focusing on recently-arrived immigrants (who have resided in the host country for 18 months or less), we compare the outcomes of two different ethnic groups in Germany: Poles and Turks. Background: The immigrant integration literature tends to focus on the role of resources in immigrant labour market integration. However, when examining particularly the labour force participation of female immigrants, their motivation for joining the labour force is also important. Previous studies of female immigrants in Germany have often neglected this consideration, which includes aspects like culturally-specific gender values and perceived ethnic discrimination. Method: We use data from the SCIP project (Diehl et al., 2015) to conduct logistic regressions on female immigrants’ labour force participation. Our sample includes 829 female immigrants from Poland and Turkey between the ages of 18-60, who were either active in the labour force or were 'at risk' of entering.  Results: In line with previous studies, our analysis shows that female immigrants' labour market resources, mainly their prior work experience and German proficiency, greatly reduce the ethnic gap in labour force participation rates. Moreover, motivational factors have a large impact on this outcome for both groups, and greatly enhance the picture that our empirical models present. However, we find no evidence that perceived ethnic discrimination plays an important role.  Conclusion: Our analysis indicates that when seeking to understand the labour market participation of female immigrants, their resources and motivation should be seen as key components of a gender-sensitive analysis.

Highlights

Germany has been the destination of numerous immigrants since the end of the Second World War including guest workers, ethnic German migrants1, intra-EU movers, and a considerable number of refugees, with the highest gross intake of immigrants in the EU since 20122
We have looked at the early stage of female immigrants’ labour market integration process; i.e., their decision to participate in the labour market after immigrating to Germany
Our analysis reveals a slight disadvantage for the Turkish women compared to the labour force participation rates of the Polish women, the difference was not as big as might be expected based on the characteristics of earlier cohorts

Summary

Introduction

Germany has been the destination of numerous immigrants since the end of the Second World War including guest workers, ethnic German migrants, intra-EU movers, and a considerable number of refugees, with the highest gross intake of immigrants in the EU since 2012 (and a place in the top five receiving countries since at least 2006). The motivation of women to join the labour force and seek paid employment is a different consideration than for men, whose labour force participation is often taken as a given fact In this regard, our analysis focuses on Poles and Turks in Germany for several important reasons. By comparing Polish and Turkish women, two groups with different cultural backgrounds, we hope to shed light on the influence that motivational factors have on female immigrant labour force participation in Germany. Studies on the early experiences of immigrants are rare, rendering it more difficult to disentangle post-migration integration dynamics from immigrant characteristics upon arrival (Schwartz 2005) This problem is relevant when it comes to explaining the ongoing disadvantages of those ethnic groups whose integration appears to lag behind that of others (Kalter 2006). We consider the role of human capital endowments, the most important explanatory factor in immigrants’ labour market integration, but we investigate the role of additional resources such as language skills and social ties and more gender-specific motivational factors, such as the migration motive, family composition and cultural gender values

Theoretical framework and existing findings

Expected results

Descriptive analysis

Regression analyses

Findings

Discussion