University of Wisconsin - Madison - 7 fi - Institute for Research on Poverty Discussion Papers Maria E . Enchautegui MIGRATION OUT OF NEW YORK AND THE LABOR FORCE PARTICIPATION OF PUERTO RICAN AND NON - HISPANIC

This paper examines the decision of Puerto Rican and non-Hispanic women to migrate out of New York and its implications for labor force participation. Between 1975 and 1980 Puerto Rican women in New York were less likely than non-Hispanic and Puerto Rican women in other locations to engage in internal mobility. New York can be characterized as being well endowed with characteristics that inhibit the migration of low-earnings-capacity individuals in general and Puerto Ricans in particular. The ethnic enclave, opportunities for low-skilled workers in the service-oriented sector, and welfare transfers absorb some of the negative impacts of sectorial shocks, reducing the desirability of out-migration. The multivariate analysis shows that the higher the expected wages and the higher the expected welfare transfers, the less likely it is that a Puerto Rican woman will become a New York out-migrant. The retaining effect of transfers is twice as large as the effect of wages. Non-Hispanic women on the contrary respond to wage differentials but not to transfer differentials. Married women are less responsive than other women to wage alternatives. Although transfers are primarily aimed at female heads of households, the effect of transfers on the out-migration decision of Puerto Ricans is uniform across marital statuses. Migration also selects in favor of the married and of those with recent labor market experience. Puerto Rican women are more senstive to monetary gains of migration and market work than non-Hispanic women. Movers have a higher labor force participation rate than nonmovers, but this can be accounted for by personal characteristics. Outmigration for nonrnovers may even result in lower labor market activity. The main qualitative difference between Puerto Rican and non-Hispanic women in terms of labor force activity is the way household-related variables affect participation. Puerto Rican women are also much less likely to have recent labor market experience. The policy implications of this study are that migration out of New York will not necessarily translate into economic improvement of Puerto Ricans and that job availability is not enough to motivate market work of Puerto Rican women as long as arrangements within the household that can accommodate market work are not made, and as long as Puerto Rican women are untrained due to their prolonged labor market withdrawal. Migration out of New York and the Labor Force Participation of Puerto Rican and Non-Hispanic Women