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First published online November 1, 2008

Shifts in the Employment Conditions of Mexican Migrant Men and Women: The Effect of U.S. Immigration Policy

Katharine M. Donato, Chizuko Wakabayashi, Shirin Hakimzadeh, and Amada ArmentaView all authors and affiliations
Volume 35, Issue 4
https://doi.org/10.1177/0730888408322859

Abstract

Prior studies suggest that the passage of the Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA) in 1986 signaled deterioration in the labor market conditions faced by Mexican migrant men. In this article, the authors examine whether and how labor market conditions changed for migrant women after 1986, and the extent to which these shifts were comparable to those experienced by men. Using data about household heads and their spouses from the Mexican Migration Project, they examine sex differences in five employment conditions: hourly wages, hours worked, and the likelihoods of receiving wages in cash and paying federal and Social Security taxes. The authors find significant gender differences in the post-1986 period, especially after 1993 when most avenues to legal visas disappeared. These findings document negative policy impacts on the employment conditions of Mexican migrant men and women, and they suggest particularly precarious employment conditions for women since 1994.

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1.
1. In contrast, other studies report some upward mobility between 1990 and 2000 for all U.S. immigrants (Bean, Leach, & Lowell, 2004), and higher wages for foreign born registered nurses (Lowell & Gerova, 2004).
2.
2. The paucity of such data in the past explains in part why many prior sociological studies on gender and migration have been qualitative rather than quantitative (Curran, Shafer, Donato, & Garip, 2006; Donato, Gabaccia, Holdaway, Manalansan, & Pessar, 2006).
3.
3. We did not include a variable indicating if respondents are household heads because of its strong correlation to respondent's sex (more than 90% of household heads were male).
4.
4. Another measure is the percentage of respondents with parents or siblings who have previous U.S. experience. Although it may facilitate migration and access to jobs (Aguilera & Massey, 2003; Massey & Espinosa, 1997), this variable is not available for spouses in the MMP.
5.
5. These migrants will not receive social security benefits in later life, however.

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Published In

Volume 35, Issue 4
Pages: 462 - 495
Article first published online: November 1, 2008
Issue published: November 2008

Keywords

  1. employment
  2. Mexico
  3. immigration
  4. policy
  5. gender

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Authors

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Katharine M. Donato
Vanderbilt University, [email protected]
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Chizuko Wakabayashi
Vanderbilt University
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Shirin Hakimzadeh
Georgetown Law School
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Amada Armenta
University of California-Los Angeles
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