The Role of Source- and Host-Country Characteristics in ... - CReAM

1 Introduction
The first decade of the 21st century has seen large waves of migration from both within
the EU and from outside it. In 2008, 3.8 million people migrated to and between the
EU-27 Member States. Moreover, the share of immigrants that migrates from countries
with substantial different cultures and traditions toward the European origin population
increases. From the 47.3 million immigrants living in EU Member States, about two-thirds
were born outside their resident country, almost equally divided between America, Asia,
Africa, and countries in Europe outside the EU-27 (European Commission, 2011). 1 Since
we observe large variations in economic outcomes of immigrants across ethnic groups, an
intense political debate is taking place in Europe around migration issues with a focus
on the costs and benefits of cultural diversity. 2
At the same time, the increase in life
expectancy and low levels of fertility have triggered a process of population aging in most
EU Member States over the past decades. Since immigrants are usually younger than the
indigenous population, immigration also has a significant impact on the age structure of
the population. [QUELLE!]
As the share of the population that was born abroad rises and as the native-born
working-age population declines in many European countries, issues concerning the labor
market integration of immigrants gain attention by researchers and policymakers, which
are usually discussed separately from the debate on cultural diversity. The question on
labor market integration is especially relevant for immigrant women, since their formal
labor market participation is, on average, on a comparatively low level.
Figure 1 shows a considerable variation in FLFP rates across the world. In particular,
pronounced differences between the developed countries, which experienced a steady
increase in FLFP since the 1970s, and the less developed countries, which experienced
none such trend so far, can be observed. Against this background, it is important to note
that European immigrants increasingly come from countries that are characterized by
relatively low FLFP rates as compared to the European average, such as the Middle East
and Northern Africa countries. Differences in FLFP between typical immigration countries
and immigrants’ countries of origin may reflect differences in preferences regarding women’s
roles in family and society. Previous studies suggest that culture plays an important role
in explaining differences in female labor market behavior across immigrants’ home-country
groups (Antecol, 2000; Fernández and Fogli, 2009; Blau et al., 2011; Blau and Kahn, 2011).
Furthermore, they reveal that these cultural effects also persist in the long run (Blau et al.,
2011) and influence the labor supply behavior of second- and higher-generation women
(Antecol, 2000; Fernández and Fogli, 2009).
But not only do we observe large variations in FLFP rates across immigrants’ source
1 For an overview of the history of immigration into Europe, see Bauer et al. (2000)
2 QUELLEN: Deutschland: Sarrazin Debatte, Debatte Multikulti ist gescheitert, ... andere Länder?
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