The association between gender, tied migration and intermarriage, and the labor market performance of married African immigrants in the United States

Abstract Although African immigration has increased rapidly in the United States in recent years, little research explores the labor market outcomes for married African immigrants. Using a large sample of married African immigrants from the American Community Survey, this paper explores the association of full-time employment and wages with gender, timing of migration relative to one’s spouse, and intermarriage with foreign nationalities. We use logistic and Poisson regression empirical models to estimate this relationship. Results suggest that married women experience a penalty relative to their married male counterparts in terms of both employment status and wages. We find that females who migrate after their husbands have a lower probability of working full-time relative to females who migrate before, and that African immigrants who intermarry with either US natives or foreigners from other countries of origin experience significantly higher annual earnings compared to those with spouses from their own country of origin. These findings suggest that immigration policy that influences the timing of spousal immigration and intermarriage has important labor market implications.