Educated and Staying at Home: Asian Immigrant Wives’ Labor Force Participation in the U.S. 1

INTRODUCTIONWomen's labor force participation in the U.S. has been well examined, especially for white and African American women (e.g., Blau & Robins, 1989; Lehrer, 1999; Omori & Smith, 2010: Reid, 2002; Reid & Padavic, 2005; Rexroat, 1990; Tienda, Donato, & Cordero-Guzman, 1992). As the size of other racial/ethnic groups (Hispanics in particular) has grown in recent years, more studies now include or focus on their labor force participation, and find that there are differences among them in the labor market experience (Cohen, 2002, England, Figueroa & Melendez, 1993; Garcia-Beaulieu, & Ross, 2004; Rosenbaum & Gilbertson, 1995). Some researchers have pointed out that treating multiple ethnic groups as one aggregated group masks important differences across ethnic groups (Gardner, William, Robey, & Smith, 1985; Read & Cohen, 2007; Zhou & Gatewood, 2000). For example, a study examining the number of weeks employed among white, Mexican, Cuban, and Puerto Rican women found that return on education is not uniform across these groups: college educated Puerto Rican women work more than college educated white women, whereas college educated Cuban and Mexican women's employed weeks do not differ significantly from their white counterparts (England, Garcia-Beaulieu, & Ross, 2004). The study also found that recent Mexican immigrant women work significantly fewer weeks than their white counterparts; yet recent Cuban immigrant women are employed as many weeks as white immigrant women (England, et al., 2004).Several researchers have pointed out that Asians are often categorized into a single group, although being Asian consists of vastly varying ethnic groups (Gardner et al., 1985; Read & Cohen, 2007; Zhou & Gatewood, 2000). Although a few studies have examined Asian women's labor force participation by origin nation, little research has been conducted recently.Some research, including studies from 1990s, found that among Asian women in the U.S., their labor force participation and earnings differ by country of origin (Duleep & Sanders, 1993; Read & Cohen, 2007; Stier, 1991). Specifically, income other than women's own income negatively affects employment for Filipina, Asian Indians, Iranians, and Japanese women, while it has a positive impact for Korean and Vietnamese women and no impact for Chinese women (Read & Cohen, 2007). Since other income (most likely husband's income) reduces white women's labor force participation as well as their employed week/hours, those who can afford not to be in the labor market (because of other income) work less or do not work for pay at all. However, the effect of other income does not hold true for African American women (England et al., 2004; Omori & Smith, 2010) as well as for Puerto Rican, Cuban, Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese, and Arab women (Read & Cohen, 2007). Since Asians are more recent immigrants, their labor force participation patterns, especially women's, have not been fully explored. Moreover, little attention has been paid to immigrant women who do not intend to work for pay. This study examines recent immigrant wives with special focus on their intent to be a homemaker.BACKGROUNDImmigrants from Asia and Their Labor Force ParticipationThe U.S. has experienced a steady increase of immigrants from Asia: the proportion of immigrants from Asia jumped from very small (5.5% in 1950s) to over 40% by 2010 (Department of Homeland Security, 2012). This trend does not seem to be slowing down. By 2012, Asians had become the largest group of immigrants receiving permanent resident status, with a total of 451,593, exceeding immigrants from North America (31.8%, including Central America) and South America (7.7%) combined (Department of Homeland Security, 2013), which total 419,998. Although both groups are newer as immigrants, those from Asia take a different path to migrate to the U.S. as compared to their counterparts from North, Central, and South America. …