Couples’ housework division among immigrants and natives : the role of women’s economic resources

Previous literature has intensively examined gender differences in housework hours among couples. However, analyses on immigrant couples are rare, despite the highly uneven division of their household labor. By testing competing theoretical explanations, this study focused on the impact of immigrant wives’ labor market integration on couples’ division of housework time. Using longitudinal representative data for Germany from 1995–2019, we applied fixed effects estimations to examine the effect of immigrant and native-born wives’ income and labor market entry on the housework time of both wives and husbands. Immigrant wives barely adjusted their housework times due to relative or absolute income changes, which can be explained by immigrant couples’ traditional orientation together with their lower social and labor market integration. Among native-born wives, increasing housework time with increasing relative income – a behavior also possibly determined by traditional gender values – was observed only when they earned more than 60 percent of the couples’ total income. Furthermore, the high gender differences in housework time gave immigrant husbands flexibility to respond to their wives’ labor market integration, as proposed by the relative resources perspective

Gender gap dynamics among refugees and recent immigrants: different start, similar patterns?

In the last years, the labor market integration of immigrant women has received much attention in the migration literature. We examine gender differences in labor market integration among refugees and other new immigrants who came to Germany during a similar period from a dynamic perspective. Using two panel data sources, which include recently arrived refugees (the IAB-BAMF-SOEP Sample of Refugees) and other immigrants (the IAB-SOEP Migration Sample) in Germany, we compare the dynamics and sources of employment gender gap among refugees and other immigrants. The results uncover narrow initial gender differences among refugees that grow over time and a reversed pattern among other immigrants. However, female refugees’ initial disadvantaged starting position maintains five years after arrival. Furthermore, our findings indicate that the explanations offered in the literature cannot fully explain the hurdles female refugees and other immigrants face when entering the labor market

Kinship, inter- and intraethnic social networks and refugees' division of housework

Objective: This article investigates the role of social connections - kin proximity, premigration friends, and exposure to intra- and interethnic contacts in the host country - in the division of routine housework in refugee couples in Germany. Background: Although social connections are established as an influential factor in the economic and societal integration of newcomers, the role of such connections for the household division of labor among immigrant couples is less understood. Method: Pooled OLS and fixed-effect models were applied to four waves of the longitudinal IAB-BAMF-SOEP Survey of Refugees (2016-2019) to study coupled refugees of working age (1,045 couples, 2,699 couple-years). Results: We find that social connections are significant to the gendered division of routine housework among refugee couples. In particular, networks consisting of new inter- and intraethnic contacts are more influential than those consisting of kins and premigration friends. Moreover, it appears that the kin and new coethnic contacts of the husband are negatively related to their involvement in housework in absolute hours and relative to their wives. Husbands' new contacts with Germans are positively related to their involvement in routine housework. In turn, wives’ contacts with Germans are not associated with a more egalitarian division of housework. Conclusion: Social networks may provide useful explanations for immigrants' domestic behavior, and they should be considered in setting up new policies that guide their integration

Seeking Asylum in Germany : Do Human and Social Capital Determine the Outcome of Asylum Procedures?

Although the Refugee Convention and European asylum legislation state that decisions regarding asylum applications should be determined solely based on persecution and other human rights violations, the outcomes of asylum procedures may be subject to socioeconomic selectivity. This article is the first to analyse whether the human and social capital of asylum-seekers affect the results of decisions regarding their asylum applications and the length of asylum procedures based on a comprehensive longitudinal survey of 5,300 refugees in Germany. We find that socioeconomic and social capital resources increase the probability of approval of asylum applications and reduce the length of asylum procedures. Moreover, human capital is particularly rewarding for asylum-seekers from countries subject to severe political and civil rights violations, whereas social networks are more conducive when the case for protection is rather difficult to prove. Finally, asylum-seekers with a higher socioeconomic status before migration seem to be better positioned to efficiently instrumentalize social networks during the asylum process. Throughout the analysis, we control for variables that capture the violation of human rights and other forms of violence, changes in asylum policies and country-of-origin-specific fixed effects. The results are robust to different specifications and are representative for asylum-seekers arriving in Germany between 2013 and 2016. Altogether, similar to other claim-making processes, the asylum process seems to promote social inequality due to socioeconomic and social capital resources

Importance of Personality Traits for Destination-Language Acquisition : Evidence for Refugees in Germany

We analyze the role of personality traits in destination-language proficiency among recent refugees in Germany. While personality traits have been shown to predict educational outcomes, they have been largely overlooked for immigrants’ language acquisition. We extend a well-established model of destination-language proficiency and assume that personality traits’ effects manifest through the channels of exposure, efficiency, and incentives. Using longitudinal data and growth curve models, we find that personality traits significantly shaped destination-language learning. Openness to new experiences, conscientiousness, risk appetite, locus of control and resilience were positively related to destination-language proficiency, while agreeableness and neuroticism were insignificant. The positive impact of extraversion and the negative impact of self-esteem on destination-language proficiency were only marginally significant. For all personality traits, we observe that both the efficiency of learning and exposure to learning opportunities represented possible channels through which personality traits affected refugees’ destination-language proficiency. In sum, personality traits affect refugees’ destination-language proficiency and, thereby, contribute to sustainable economic and societal integration processes. We conclude by discussing implications for international migration research and policy

Institutional change and gender inequalities at labour market entry: a comparison of Estonia, Russia, and East and West Germany

Our study investigates how gender inequalities in job opportunities evolved during communist and post-communist times in former state-socialist countries. Theoretical arguments (mainly based on studies referring to Western countries) led to the expectation of a surge in gender inequalities in these countries after the collapse of communism. Empirically, we explore the gender gap in job authority upon labour market entry by using life-history data from Russia, Estonia, and East Germany, with West Germany serving as a control case. The selection of countries was motivated primarily by the availability of rich life-history data, covering four decades of (post-) state socialism but also by divergences in institutional set-ups in the course of transition from state socialism to a liberalised market economy. Our findings yield four major results. First, accounting for education and the branch of economy, women were not disadvantaged during Soviet times; instead, we have even found evidence of a slight female advantage in Estonia and East Germany. Thus, our findings mirror the communist regime's effectiveness in equalising women's and men's opportunities at work. Second, in the pre-collapse decade, the advantage of women in terms of job authority decreased in East Germany and Estonia, whereas in Russia, women fell behind men. Third, with the Soviet Union collapse, a remarkable female disadvantage emerged in all formerly state socialist countries under scrutiny. In addition, we observe a growing gender gap in West Germany in the same period. The latter result strengthens the conclusion that times of economic liberalisation may go hand-in-hand with increasing gender inequalities

The reliability of adult self-reported height : The role of interviewers

Surveys serve as an important source of information on key anthropometric characteristics such as body height or weight in the population. Such data are often obtained by directly asking respondents to report those values. Numerous studies have examined measurement errors in this context by comparing reported to measured values. However, little is known on the role of interviewers on the prevalence of irregularities in anthropometric survey data. In this study, we explore such interviewer effects in two ways. First, we use data from the US National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey and the UK Household Longitudinal Study to evaluate whether differences between reported and measured values are clustered within interviewers. Second, we investigate changes in adult self-reported height over survey waves in two German large-scale panel surveys. Here, we exploit that height should be constant over time for the majority of adult age groups. In both analyses, we use multilevel location-scale models to identify interviewers who enhance reporting errors and interviewers for whom unlikely height changes over waves occur frequently. Our results reveal that interviewers can play a prominent role in differences between reported and measured height values and changes in reported height over survey waves. We further provide an analysis of the consequences of height misreporting on substantive regression coefficients where we especially focus on the role of interviewers who reinforce reporting errors and unlikely height changes

Institutional Change and Gender Inequalities at Labour Market Entry: A Comparison of Estonia, Russia, and East and West Germany

Our study investigates how gender inequalities in job opportunities evolved during communist and post-communist times in former state-socialist countries. Theoretical arguments (mainly based on studies referring to Western countries) led to the expectation of a surge in gender inequalities in these countries after the collapse of communism. Empirically, we explore the gender gap in job authority upon labour market entry by using life-history data from Russia, Estonia, and East Germany, with West Germany serving as a control case. The selection of countries was motivated primarily by the availability of rich life-history data, covering four decades of (post-) state socialism but also by divergences in institutional set-ups in the course of transition from state socialism to a liberalised market economy. Our findings yield four major results. First, accounting for education and the branch of economy, women were not disadvantaged during Soviet times; instead, we have even found evidence of a slight female advantage in Estonia and East Germany. Thus, our findings mirror the communist regime’s effectiveness in equalising women’s and men’s opportunities at work. Second, in the pre-collapse decade, the advantage of women in terms of job authority decreased in East Germany and Estonia, whereas in Russia, women fell behind men. Third, with the Soviet Union collapse, a remarkable female disadvantage emerged in all formerly state socialist countries under scrutiny. In addition, we observe a growing gender gap in West Germany in the same period. The latter result strengthens the conclusion that times of economic liberalisation may go hand-in-hand with increasing gender inequalities

The effect of co-ethnic social capital on immigrants' labor market integration : a natural experiment

Empirically identifying the causal effect of social capital on immigrants’ economic prospects is a challenging task due to the non-random residential sorting of immigrants into locations with greater opportunities for prior or co-ethnic connections. Our study addresses this selection-bias issue by using a natural-experimental dataset of refugees and other immigrants who were exogenously allocated to their first place of residence by German authorities. This unique opportunity allows us to make an important methodological contribution to the predominantly observational knowledge about immigration and co-ethnic social capital. Although a growing body of migration studies in economics and sociology stresses the importance of social networks for migrants’ labor market integration, our results show little evidence of a causal effect of social networks themselves. Being part of a larger co-ethnic community per se does not accelerate immigrants’ labor market success except for the migrants who use the resources embedded in their social contacts when looking for a job. We conclude that further methodological advancements can be achieved by embracing recent technological developments and by combining different methods to increase both internal and external validity of findings in migration studies.Published: 12 April 202