Immigrant Labor, Child-Care Services, and the Work-Fertility Trade-Off in the United States

No 3506, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: The negative correlation between female employment and fertility in industrialized nations has weakened since the 1960s, particularly in the United States. We suggest that the continuing influx of low-skilled immigrants has led to a substantial reduction in the trade-off between work and childrearing facing American women. The evidence we present indicates that low-skilled immigration has driven down wages in the US child-care sector. More affordable child-care has, in turn, increased the fertility of college graduate native females. Although childbearing is generally associated with temporary exit from the labor force, immigrant-led declines in the price of child-care has reduced the extent of role incompatibility between fertility and work.

Keywords: immigration; labor supply; fertility (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D10 F22 J13 J22 R23 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 35 pages
Date: 2008-05
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-lab and nep-mig
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (20)

Published - revised version published as "Low Skilled Immigration and Work-Fertility Tradeoffs Among High Skilled US Natives" in: American Economic Review, 2010, 100 (2), 224-228

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