Gendered Color Lines: The Effects of Skin Color on Immigrants’ Employment

• In Event: 543 - Section on Race, Gender and Class Paper Session. Race, Gender and Class at Work

Abstract

The paper investigates the gender-specific effects of skin color on the probability of employment among immigrants. Utilizing the New Immigrant Survey 2003 Adult Sample, a series of logistic regression models are estimated. Our results show that darker skin colors are associated with lower probability of employment for immigrant men regardless of race. To our surprise, however, darker skin colors do not necessarily have negative impact on the probability of employment for immigrant women after controlling for race. The gender gap in employment is the highest at the lightest skin color, while that is the lowest at the darkest skin color. The implications of these gender-specific effects of skin color are discussed.

Authors

• Andrea Gomez Cervantes, University of Kansas

• ChangHwan Kim, University of Kansas