Wages of Mexican American women : beyond human capital.

Abstract

Labor force participation of Mexican American women, like the labor force participation of all women, has been increasing in recent years. Due to the increase in the labor force participation of Mexican American women, their wages and the employment opportunities available to these women merit further attention. Typically, variations in the wages of Mexican American women are attributed to differing human capital characteristics among these women. This study extends upon the human capital research by looking at the effect of citizenship status and failure to naturalize on Mexican women; and by using hierarchical modeling to examine the contextual effects of the labor market that these women work in on their human capital characteristics.