The labour market entry of immigrant women in Germany: disentangling the determinants of labour force participation

Abstract

ABSTRACT The labour market entry of immigrants is key to their integration, but also one of the stages where disadvantage arises. In seeking to understand this disadvantage, much of the existing research does not acknowledge the gender-specific dynamics at play and for immigrant women, this often means that their labour force participation (LFP) is overlooked. Thus, this study seeks to investigate the LFP decision in its own right, exposing the gender-specific nature of this stage of labour market integration and its determinants, including labour market resources, like education and language skills, and motivations, like childcare pressures, gender role attitudes and personality traits. Relying on data from the Recent Immigration Processes and Early Integration Trajectories in Germany (ENTRA) survey of recently-arrived immigrants, I investigate the LFP of women from four different origin groups – Poland, Italy, Syria and Turkey. The results highlight that, unlike immigrant men, for immigrant women, the LFP decision is much more salient, and both labour market resources as well as motivations are decisive determinants. Nonetheless, even after accounting for these factors, Turkish and Syrian women still show persistently lower LFP compared to immigrant women from European origins. Moreover, childcare responsibilities are identified as a crucial female-specific barrier.