Birthright citizenship and parental labor market integration

Do migrant parents change their labor market behavior when their children are born with the citizenship of the host country? In this study, I implement a difference-in-discontinuities approach to examine possible adjustments in employment and working hours following the introduction of birthright citizenship for immigrant children in Germany in 2000. In particular, I compare the changes in labor market outcomes between the parents of migrant children born before and after the enactment date with those of children of mixed couples (migrants and Germans) who were unaffected by the law change. The analysis of data from the Microcensus from 2001 to 2008 suggests that mothers and fathers react differently to having a German-citizen child: While fathers' labor force participation is unaffected, I find mothers to be more likely to stay at home. By contrast, there seems to be no effect on the number of hours in the job.