Mexican Migration and Union Formation in Sending Communities: A Research Note

PWP-CCPR-2011-007

Abstract

This study examines how levels of male migration influence non-migrant women’s transition into first unions in Mexico. Results show that women in municipalities with high levels of male migration are more likely to delay or forego transitions into first unions than their counterparts in municipalities with low levels of migration. An in depth analysis of the underlying mechanisms reveals that migration influences women’s family formation processes in multifaceted ways. On the one hand, migration promotes women’s transition into a first union by creating the economic conditions necessary for women to specialize in home production and increasing the net gains to marriage. Migration also appears to encourage early marriages by reducing single women’s participation in paid labor, which in turn, prevents single women from prolonging their marital searches. On the other hand, migration depresses women’s transition into marriage by diminishing the quantity of marriageable men in local marriage markets.