| By: |
Luis Guirola (Banco de España);
María Sánchez-Domínguez (Universidad Complutense de Madrid) |
| Abstract: |
While motherhood is one of the main reasons for the persistence of gender
gaps, its impact on the rising share of immigrant mothers in Europe is less
well understood. This paper asks how the burden of childcare affects the labor
market integration of immigrants. To identify the contribution of this burden
to the native-immigrant employment gap, it exploits European Labor Force
Survey (EU-LFS) microdata from 2004 to 2019. This survey collects information
on respondents’ counterfactual behaviour, in the event that: a) they had no
care responsibilities; b) they could find a job compatible with their care
responsibilities; c) they had access to childcare services. This information
allows estimates to be obtained of the impact of childcare on labor supply
comparable across eleven countries. Our results show that the burden of
childcare is the major obstacle to the integration of immigrant mothers. While
the employment gap between non-EU immigrant and native mothers in Northern and
Southern Europe is 35 and 17 percentage points (pp) respectively, two-thirds
(24 pp and 12 pp) of it is explained by childcare motivated inactivity. We
reject the hypothesis that the childcare gap is solely driven by immigrants’
sociodemographic traits or traditional parenting norms. Our estimates suggest
that at least a quarter (5.8 pp and 2.6 pp) of the gap is due to the higher
opportunity cost of paid work faced by immigrant mothers; that equal access to
childcare could reduce it by 10 pp and 7 pp; and that immigrants’ exclusion
from flexible time arrangements could explain the larger size and higher
persistence of the gap in the North. This paper contributes to the literature
on immigrant integration, highlighting that the child penalty is the main
obstacle to female migrant labor supply and that differences in howEuropean
societies handle the burden of care can account for their records on the
integration of immigrant households, suggesting that family policies could be
central to the integration policy mix and even influence the migration
decision. |
| Keywords: |
female labor supply, care burden, immigrant and native women, opportunity cost, Europe |
| JEL: |
J13 J15 J16 J18 J31 J61 J70 |
| Date: |
2022–04 |
| URL: |
http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bde:wpaper:2216&r= |