Stephanie Steinmetz (University of Lausanne)

“Cross-national differences in the economic integration of female migrants in Europe”

Considering the increasing diversity of the female workforce, the urgency to clarify the impact of gender and migration background on labor market outcomes is self-evident. Promoting gender equality and empowering women is an important societal goal. However, despite the striking gains of women in the educational arena and various measures to tackle gender inequalities, the gender wage gap and other forms of unequal treatment persist. Migrant women are particularly vulnerable. They may face a double disadvantage resulting from gender and migration background. In this regard, however, it is also essential to recognize that institutional contexts of the receiving countries play a crucial role in shaping cross-national differences of the economic integration of female migrants. Against this background, the talk will examine determinants of cross-national differences of female migrant’s access to the labor market as well as their economic outcomes (wages). Particular focus is devoted to the role of family policies and the gender-egalitarian climate as well as to country-specific labor market structures (such as such as the size of shadow economy and the GDP). The analyses are based on pooled data of the European Labor Force Survey (EU-LFS) and the Union Statistics on Income and Living Conditions (EU-SIL) applying country-fixed effects models.