IZA Discussion Paper No. 233

This Discussion Paper is issued within the framework of IZA's research area 0RELOLW\ DQGG)OH[LELOLW\ RII /DERUU 0DUNHWV Any opinions expressed here are those of the author(s) and not those of the institute. Research disseminated by IZA may include views on policy, but the institute itself takes no institutional policy positions. The Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA) in Bonn is a local and virtual international research center and a place of communication between science, politics and business. IZA is an independent, nonprofit limited liability company (Gesellschaft mit beschränkter Haftung) supported by the Deutsche Post AG. The center is associated with the University of Bonn and offers a stimulating research environment through its research networks, research support, and visitors and doctoral programs. IZA engages in (i) original and internationally competitive research in all fields of labor economics, (ii) development of policy concepts, and (iii) dissemination of research results and concepts to the interested public. The current research program deals with (1) mobility and flexibility of labor markets, (2) internationalization of labor markets and European integration, (3) the welfare state and labor markets, (4) labor markets in transition, (5) the future of work, (6) project evaluation and (7) general labor economics. IZA Discussion Papers often represent preliminary work and are circulated to encourage discussion. Citation of such a paper should account for its provisional character. * This paper contrasts labour participation behaviour and wages of native and immigrant women. Since the impact of family structure on labor supply differs between natives and immigrants, we explicitly distinguish between part-time and full-time jobs. The choice of jobs is accounted for by an ordered probit selection model with an incidental threshold, thus offering a flexible strategy to address selection issues in a segmented labour market. Our analysis is based on panel data, allowing us to control for correlated individual-specific effects in both selection-and wage equations. We conclude that migrant women receive lower wages than native women in the same labor market segment, and that this is mainly associated with their relatively low educational endowments. Their relatively high ability to combine full-time work and child rearing somewhat mitigates these disadvantages. research assistance by Boris Augurzky and Manuel Frondel, and for the hospitality of the IZA (Bonn).