The Impact of Immigrant Gender on International Trade: An Empirical Assessment

Studies routinely document that the nature of immigrant employment is largely specific: it often concentrates in non-traded goods sectors and many immigrants, particularly females, often have low inter-sectoral mobility. We consider these employment and gender related characteristics of immigrants for the question of how immigration affects a nation’s pattern of production and trade. Based on a model in which immigrant gender influences the nature and likely sector of employment, we postulate that the higher is the proportion of immigrants who are female the more likely that immigration and trade will be complements. Empirical investigation of the relationship between migrant gender and the production of traded and non-traded goods in a panel dataset of OECD countries supports the conjecture that female immigration and trade are complements whereas male immigration and trade are substitutes. This difference arises because employment of female immigrants is more likely to be concentrated in non-traded goods sectors and females are likely to have lower inter-sectoral mobility relative to male immigrants. We discuss the implications of these empirical findings for immigration policy.