South-South Migration and Female Labor Supply in the Dominican Republic

We study the effects of female immigration on the labor supply of Dominican-born women of different educational levels and family structures. Using individual-level data for 2003 - 2016 and exploiting geographic variation in early immigrant settlements together with time variation in female immigration inflows, we find that female immigration is associated with a decrease in the labor supply of low educated women at the intensive margin (hours worked) and with an increase in the labor supply at the intensive margin of highly educated women with family dependents (relative to
equally educated women without dependents). We fill a gap in the literature on the links between migration and female labor supply, which has focused on developed countries.