Cultural Influences on Immigrant Women's Labor Force Participation: The Arab‐American Case1

Research on the economic activity of immigrant women has flourished in recent years. The current study extends this literature to examine the labor force activity of Arab‐American women, a group whose labor market experiences provide an exception to hitherto accepted theoretical explanations. The employment rates of Arab immigrant women rank among the lowest of any immigrant group, while the rates of native‐born Arab‐American women resemble those of U.S.‐born white women. This study examines potential explanations for these differences using data from the U.S. Census and a national mail survey of Arab‐American women. Contrary to findings for other immigrant groups, differences among Arab‐American women cannot be explained by their human capital characteristics or family resources, but are almost entirely due to traditional cultural norms that prioritize women's family obligations over their economic activity, and to ethnic and religious social networks that encourage the maintenance of traditional gender roles. This study concludes by underscoring the need for additional research on the impact of culture on immigrant women's employment.     

Childhood Predictors of Labor Force Participation in Adult Life

This study used longitudinal data from the National Child Development Study in the United Kingdom to investigate childhood predictors of labor force participation outcome (unemployed versus employed or self-employed) at age 33. In women, only general ability at age 11 was related to labor force participation at age 33, whereas in men labor force participation was negatively related to sibship size and domestic tension in childhood and psychological distress in adult life, and was positively related to presence of a partner in adult life, academic motivation in adolescence and educational attainment.     

Female Labor Force Participation in Urban and Rural China1

Abstract The objective of this study is to examine female labor force participation and its determinants in rural and urban China. The sociological literature has demonstrated that participation tends to increase in urban and industrialized places where women have higher levels of education and fewer children, where more workers are engaged in service pursuits, and where family structure is less traditional. With the use of data on counties and cities (N = 2,377) from the I-percent sample of the 1982 census of the People's Republic of China, it was found that female labor force participation is likely to rise in areas with increased agricultural employment, educational levels, proportion of female-headed households, and higher male-to-female sex ratios. Both the size of the service sector and the fertility rate had negligible effects on female labor force participation. Although, on average, rural places have slightly higher levels of female labor force participation, when other variables are controlled, urban places have a higher rate of female participation. In addition, the findings suggest that market factors (i.e., education) are more likely to determine the rate of female labor force participation in urban areas; whereas demographic and social factors (i.e., sex ratio and household structure) play a more important role in explaining the female labor force participation in rural counties.     

Labor Force Participation,Regional Location,and Economic Well-Being of Single Mothers in Russia

This paper tests the contribution of increased labor market participation to a substantial narrowing of the gap in material welfare between two parent and single mother households in Russia in the period 1996–2003. Decomposition analysis employing the technique of Juhn et al. (Accounting for a slowdown in black–white wage convergence, Kosters (ed), 1991) and data from the Russian Longitudinal Monitoring Survey shows that increased labor market participation explains about one-third of the narrowing of the welfare gap. Changes in the regional distribution of single mother households, specifically increasing concentration in Moscow and St Petersburg, have proved critical because of the higher wages available in these cities. Thus quality of employment has been as important as increased participation in the labor market.     

Financial Literacy,Human Capital and Stock Market Participation in Europe

Households’ stock market participation has significant effects on savings and on an economy’s financial development and performance. Yet participation into capital markets is limited and quite heterogonous both among and within several countries. This phenomenon represents an empirical puzzle whose understanding is rather incomplete. In this work, we exploited a combination of datasets for nine European countries and used different econometric specifications that allow to control for endogeneity of financial literacy and human capital, to assess the role of several variables in affecting the probability to participate in the stock market in year 2010. Besides socio-demographic variables, we found that financial literacy has a positive and significant effect on stock market participation, together with the level of human capital and social interaction. Country level differences are explained by such institutional factors as the effectiveness of the education system and by the attractiveness of the stock markets.     

人力资本、劳动力市场分割与性别收入差距

本文利用"中国家庭动态跟踪调查"2010年全国代表性数据,使用多层线性交互分类模型来综合考虑个体人力资本和劳动力市场分割对收入水平和性别收入差距的影响。结果表明,女性劳动者由于受教育水平低而大量在第一产业和非正式劳动力市场中就业是造成性别收入差距的重要原因。职业分割影响性别收入差距主要通过纵向分割,在不同职业内没有发现显著的性别收入差异。女性教育收益率高于男性主要是教育配置作用的结果,较高的受教育程度有助于女性进入收入水平高的行业和部门以及性别歧视程度较低的部门。     

Female Labor Force Participation and the Organizational Experiences of Male Workers*

Using a sample of 387 male federal employees who responded to a questionnaire, this study tests two theoretical perspectives concerning the effect of women's labor force participation on men's work experiences. One theory, with roots in the external-conflict/intenial-cohesion and minority-group size/discrimination literature, predicts that the greater the representation of women in work groups, the greater the social solidarity among male workers and the less the social support for males from female coworkers. A second theory, derived primarily from Blau's exploration into the quantitative properties of social structure, suggests that the higher the proportional representation of females, the lower of social solidarity among male workers and the greater the social support for males from female coworkers. The findings support the latter, not the former, theoretical perspective.     

人力资本、社会资本与大学生就业质量——基于劳动力市场分割理论的探讨

关于大学生就业质量的理论解释,有人力资本与社会资本两种不同的理论取向。对此,综合两种理论解释并纳入劳动力市场分割理论视角,建构影响大学生就业质量的分析模型。利用中国大学生就业、生活和价值观追踪调查(PSCUS)对该分析模型的检验表明,在劳动力市场分割下,人力资本和社会资本有助于大学生进入就业质量更高的首要部门,同时人力资本与社会资本对大学生就业质量的影响存在就业部门差异。研究表明,加强劳动力市场建设,弱化劳动力市场分割下的体制性不平等和机会不公平是提高大学生就业质量的重要面向。     

Location,Context, and Perspective in American Studies

Abstract

This paper is a case-study analysis of the geography of practice as it functions in American studies. Focusing on the Japanese Association for American Studies fortieth anniversary symposium, 'American Studies in Trans-Pacific Perspective', it shows how the event affords two complementary ways of thinking about the geography of scholarly identity, topics, and practices in American studies, one emphasizing positionality and physical location, the other emphasizing interactions and relational contexts. The paper focuses on the second (and less common) spatialization of Americanist practice, arguing that comparative American studies cannot be adequately understood solely in terms of nationally or regionally defined perspectives. The paper draws attention to the significance of other kinds of scholarly interactions across distance by showing how the apparently specific and located perspective performed at the JAAS symposium depended upon, emerged out of, and is still unfolding within complex, long-term exchanges and networks that stretch far beyond the transpacific.     

Work Incentive and Labor Force Participation after the Senior Citizens Freedom to Work Act of 2000

A larger share of individuals 65 and older have been staying in or returning to the labor force since the late 1980s. Because Social Security was changed from providing incentives for earlier withdrawal from the labor force to providing incentives to remain in the labor market longer, we can expect to find a relationship between the Retirement Earnings Test removal and labor force participation. The findings have implications for welfare policy such that they can increase the portion of older adults who work.     

American Indians,civilized performance and the question of rights

Abstract

Between the middle of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th, public arguments about the eligibility of American Indians for citizenship, and about the obligations of white Americans toward Indian populations, shifted from a focus on the rights of the Indian minority to a focus on the rights of the white majority. Similarly, discussions of the criteria for Indian citizenship also shifted, from a concern with the moral duty of the majority to ensure the human rights of the minority to a consideration of whether any claims to rights must be respected on moral grounds alone. The writings of Lydia Maria Child and Lyman Abbott on the 'Indian question' illustrate the ways in which Child's paternalistic family model of entitlement is replaced by a later model that emphasizes culture over morality, behavior over rights.     

Individual and Familial Determinants of Married Arab Israeli Women's Labor Force Participation: Trends of Change and Stability

Although the Arab population in Israel has undergone important economic and social changes in the past decades, the labor force participation of Arab women, particularly married women, has remained limited. This study uses census data to learn about the individual and familial factors associated with the entry into paid work of married Arab women and examines the extent to which these factors have changed over time. A major advantage is that the study distinguishes between the Muslim, Christian, and Druze populations, who markedly differ in their demographic, social, and cultural characteristics. Results from logistic regression models and standardization analyses reveal that the growth in employment experienced by Arab women was associated with the increasing education of both wives and husbands. However, the returns to education significantly decreased over time, particularly among Druze women, suggesting it has become more difficult for highly educated women to find employment. Results further show that the growth in employment experienced by Muslim and Christian women was related both to a decline in fertility and to a decrease in the negative returns to having children. Overall, findings underscore the structural barriers that limit Arab Israeli women's employment opportunities and raise concerns about their future occupational prospects.     

Racial Identity,School Racial Climate,and School Intrinsic Motivation Among African American Youth: The Importance of Person–Context Congruence

Researchers have been concerned with whether strong racial identification promotes or inhibits achievement motivation among African American youth, but current literatures have paid little attention to the role of youths' contexts. In this study, we outline a racial identity–context congruence framework that predicts positive benefits of a strong, positive racial identity when the context is congruent with youths' beliefs. To test this framework, we examined school racial climate as a moderator in the relationships of three racial identity variables (centrality, private regard, and public regard) with intrinsic motivation for attending school in a sample of 11th graders. Overall, results support the congruence perspective and also demonstrate how feelings of belonging at school mediate the relationship between racial identity–racial climate congruence and school intrinsic motivation.     

Explaining the Gender Gap in Help to Parents: The Importance of Employment

Although it is well established that adult daughters spend more time giving assistance to their parents than do sons, the sources of this gender gap are not well understood. This paper asks: To what extent can this gap be explained by structural variation, especially the different rates of employment and kinds of jobs that women and men tend to hold? Using data from the National Survey of Families and Households (N = 7,350), the paper shows that both employment status and job characteristics, especially wages and self‐employment, are important factors in explaining the gender gap in the help given to parents, and that these operate similarly for women and men.     

National Context,Family Satisfaction,and Fairness in the Division of Household Labor

This study uses data from married women in 30 nations to examine justice processes involving perceptions of fairness of the division of household labor and satisfaction with family life. Relative deprivation theory suggests that national context—operationalized here as nation‐level gender equity—might serve as a comparative referent used by married women when making determinations of the fairness of the division of household labor. Multilevel analyses confirm that the effect of inequalities in the division of household labor on perceptions of fairness is moderated by national context, as is the effect of perceptions of fairness on satisfaction with family life. The effects are strongest in nations with high levels of gender equity, confirming two hypotheses suggested by relative deprivation theory.     

Teenagers in the U.S. Labor Force: Local Labor Markets,Race, and Family1

Abstract Drawing on theories of family organization and labor-market structures, it is argued that teenagers represent a useful target population for research on the effects of race, household characteristics, and local labor markets on labor-force participation. Toward this end, predictive models of labor-force participation are applied to a sample of all white and black 16- to 18-year-olds living at home in nonmetropolitan and metropolitan labor-market areas in the United States. Beyond the higher labor-force participation of white youths, both local labor-market characteristics and family resources affect teenage labor-force participation. Participation of white youths was more closely linked to family resources and local economic conditions than that of black youths. Queuing theories of labor-force participation are used to interpret these findings.     

Review Essay: Making Citizens,Making Gender: The Importance of National Context

Sociological Forum -     

Close to Home: A Simultaneous Equations Model of the Relationship Between Child Care Accessibility and Female Labor Force Participation

Rising rates of maternal employment among current and former welfare recipients have increased the use of non-parental child care. Little empirical work examines the relationship between women’s labor supply and the geographic supply of child care. We combine census data with child care provider information for the state of Maryland to explore the relationship between female labor supply and the geographic supply of child care. OLS and 3-SLS equations are estimated, and the findings are consistent across each estimator: Women’s labor supply is sensitive to the geographic supply of child care and vice versa. These results are important because states now spend significant money on quality improvement initiatives, many of which increase child care supply in low-income neighborhoods.