Contemporary Trends in Immigration to the United States: Gender, Labor-Market Incorporation, and Implications for Family Formation

This article provides an overview of contemporary trends in immigration to the United States and a descriptive analysis of gendered patterns of immigrants economic incorporation. Since the 1970s, both legal and illegal female immigration to the United States has increased steadily, suggesting a trend toward more permanent settlement compared with that of the past. Today, more than half of the immigrants to the United States are female. Although these women often migrate for reasons similar to those of men (such as seeking better economic opportunities or escaping persecution and extreme hardships), their experiences with labor-market incorporation and family formation differ from those of men, raising new issues for the understanding of the role of gender in immigrant settlement and adaptatio