Labor Force Patterns of Mexican Women in Mexico and United States: What Changes and What Remains?

María Adela Angoa-Pérez, El Colegio de México
Antonio Fuentes, El Colegio de México

The current study explores factors affecting the economic participation of Mexican women in two contexts, Mexico and the U.S., using the 2000 Public-Use Microdata Sample (IPUMS), the 2000 Sample of Census of Mexico and hierarchical linear models. The main purpose is to describe differences in the labor force patterns of Mexican immigrant women (first and 1.5 generations) in the U.S compared to the Mexican and American mainstream, taking into account individual and household characteristics, including human capital and the labor market and place of residence. We explain differences between profiles using the perspective of selective assimilation. We expect to find evidence supporting the idea that the 1.5 generation labor force profile is completely different from non-Hispanic White and Mexican women, but very similar to the first generation.