Migration and the Employment Status of Married Women

Most studies of interprovincial migration have treated migrants as either heads of households or singles. Marr and Millerd examine the relationship between migration and employment for married women. With most migrants moving as husband-wife families and the increasing labor force participation rate of women married women are an important component of spatial changes in the labor force. Data for this study come from the household/family file of the Public Use Sample prepared from the 1981 Census. The 2nd data source is Statistics Canadas Current Population Profile. Results suggest that the labor market experience of migrant wives at least in the short term is difficult. Despite having an employment rate of 42.1% in the month before they moved the employment rate fell to 25.1% in the month after migration. There is also an indication that wives in families with young children have the least chance of being employed after migration. After some time in their new location migrant wives do enjoy an improvement in their employment rate. The determinants of migrant wives employment immediately after migration were examined and compared with other migrant groups. The wives most likely to be employed were those with a university degree those in primary or service industries those employed before migrating those moving to Alberta and those who did not switch industry alone or both industry and occupation.