Underemployment among Mexican-origin women

Abstract

The authors compare the determinants of three forms of marginal employment between Mexican-origin and white women: unemployment, involuntary part-time employment, and working poverty. They address two main questions. First, are there differences between Mexican-origin and white women in the propensity for unemployment, involuntary part-time employment, and working poverty? Second, do the effects of personal characteristics and job location on underemployment vary by ethnicity? Data are drawn from the Annual Social and Economic (ASEC) Supplement File of the 2005 Current Population Survey (CPS). Using multinomial logistic regression models, we show that ethnicity matters in the likelihood of working poverty but not for the other forms of underemployment. Results also reveal that the effects of personal attributes and job location on the likelihood of unemployment, involuntary part-time employment, and working poverty vary for each ethnic group, leading to a double disadvantage for working poor Mexican-origin women.