First- and Second-Generation Women’s Economic Assimilation: An Analysis of Longitudinal Earnings Records

Abstract

Research on the economic assimilation of immigrants and their descendants has disproportionately focused on men. In this study, we examine the life-course employment and earnings trajectories of first- and second-generation women using a restricted-use dataset linking individual respondents of the Current Population Survey (CPS) to their tax earnings records. We compare the age-specific probability of employment and annual earnings of women of each immigrant generation by race and ethnicity from early to middle adulthood covering a span of 20 years. We consider alternative explanations for observed disparities including differences in the level of education and the timing and response to childbearing. Our analyses reveal distinct patterns across immigrant generations and ethnoracial groups. We find that first- and second-generation women are assimilating economically at a fast pace although significant ethnoracial differences remain. First-generation Hispanic women in particular experience low employment and earnings growth. Second-generation women have higher employment rates than later-generation Whites and avoid the dip in employment trajectories in early and middle adulthood experienced by the latter group. The higher employment rates of second-generation women cannot be fully explained by differences in educational attainment or the presence of young children.