Immigration Selection and the Gender Wage Gap of Immigrants in the U.S.

Fernando Lozano, Pomona College
Mary Lopez, Occidental College

We analyze the gender wage gaps among several countries that are members of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. Immigrants from countries where the source country gender wage gap has increased exhibit a decrease in the gender wage gap in the U.S. On the other hand, for immigrants from countries where the source country gender wage gap has decreased, the gender wage gap in the U.S. has increased. Our main hypothesis predicts that increases in the gender wage gap in the source country, where women are worse off relative to men, will generate incentives for high-ability women to emigrate. This in turn will widen the source country wage gap, but narrow the gender wage gap among immigrants from that country. This paper explores how changes in the source country labor market affect the observed distribution of earnings among women who migrate to the U.S. relative to their male counterparts.