MEXICAN-ORIGIN WOMEN'S EMPLOYMENT INSTABILITY

ABSTRACT: This study compares the causes and earnings consequences of employment instability among Mexican-origin women, white women, and white men. Data for the analyses come from the work experience sup-plement in the March 1995 file of the Current Population Survey, which documents the respondent's yearlong laborforce activity. Workers who had one or more spells of unemployment during the year or involuntarily worked part-time during the entire year are said to have experienced employment instability. Using logistic regression, results show that Mexican-origin women with low levels of schooling, immigrants, and those mployed in the periphery services ector or extractive s ctor are highly vulnerable to employ-ment instability. Earnings determination models revealed that employment instability exerts a heavy penalty on Mexican-origin women, compared to their stably employed coethnics, net of human capital endowments and eco-nomic sector location. Although the high unemployment rate of Mexican-origin women is well known, our understanding of persistent unemployment among them is sketchy. The unemployment rate captures the proportion of persons out of work during a spe-cific point in time, usually a week. Over a longer period, some workers experience persistent unemployment-that is, repeated transitions in and out of joblessness. Using a longer time horizon, recent studies reveal that persistent joblessness, or employment instability, is pervasive in the U.S. workforce (Clark and Summer