ABSTRACT
The consensus within the migration research field is that, generally speaking, family migration has a negative effect on married women’s labour market achievement. Theoretically, the human capital model of family migration predicts negative consequences of family migration on married women’s labour market achievement (Sandell 1977; Mincer 1978), a hypothesis which is supported by the available empirical evidence (for example, Sandell 1977; Spitze 1984; Lichter 1980, 1983; Shihadeh 1991). Yet, Cooke and Bailey (1996), in response to methodological limitations of previous empirical research, find a 9 per cent increase in the probability of employment due to migration among a sample of married mothers living in the Midwest in 1980. The validity of their finding hinges on their arguments regarding the role of selfselection bias in cross-sectional models of the effect of migration on labour market achievement.
