GENDER AND ETHNIC CONCENTRATION AND EMPLOYMENT PROSPECTS FOR MEXICAN-AMERICAN MIGRANTS

There is a growing body of literature on both female and ethnic migrat ion, including the effects of migration on earnings and employment. Th e primary purpose of this paper is to analyze the effects of migration on the employment of Mexican-Americans. This paper attempts to answer the question, ''what effect, if any, does the migration of Mexican-Am ericans have on their employment outcomes?'' To explore this question the empirical research is situated within a gendered and ethnic theore tical framework. Using the 1990 Public Use Microsample (PUMS) data for the empirical analysis, the effects are differentiated by gender and examined as to how localized concentrations of coethnics affect the re turns to migration, after controlling for migration self-selection bia s. The results suggest migration decreases the employment probabilitie s for married women with no significant effect for single women or men . Greater percentage of coethnics increases employment for all groups except single women.