In this paper we investigate economic activity of female immigrants and their
husbands in Britain. We distinguish between two immigrant groups: foreign born
females who belong to an ethnic minority group and their husbands, and foreign
born females who are white and their husbands. We compare these to native born
white women and their husbands. Our analysis deviates from the usual mean
analysis and investigates employment, hours worked and earnings for males and
females, as well as their combined family earnings, along the distribution of
husbands’ economic potential. We analyse the extent to which economic
disadvantage may be reinforced on the household level. We investigate to what
extent disadvantage can be explained by differences in observable characteristics.
We analyse employment assimilation for all groups over the migration cycle. Our
main results are that white female immigrants and their husbands are quite
successful, with an overall advantage in earnings over white native born both
individually and at the household level. On the other hand, minority immigrants and
their husbands are less successful, in particular at the lower end of the husband’s
distribution of economic potential. This is mainly due to low employment of both
genders, which leads to disadvantage in earnings, intensified at the household level.
Only part of this differential can be explained by observable characteristics. Over the
migration cycle, the data suggests that employment differentials are large at entry
for white immigrant females, and even larger for minority females, but the gap to
the native born closes. Assimilation is more rapid for white females
