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Title: Immigrant Assimilation and Race-Ethnic Disadvantage: A Comparative Perspective on U.S. Labor Market Inequality Past and Present

Citation Type: Dissertation/Thesis

Publication Year: 2013

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Abstract: The flow of immigrants into the United States has steadily increased and now approaches levels unmatched since nearly a century ago. Similar to prior generations of immigrants, today’s foreign-born encounter numerous barriers that often lead to low-paying, dead-end jobs. This is despite public (mis)perceptions that hard work always leads to achieving the “American Dream.” Yet it remains unclear for whom and under what circumstances assimilation and labor market dynamics are most decisive. How do potential barriers intersect with individual efforts to integrate? Where and for whom is inequality reinforced or diminished? And, what are the consequences for immigrant and minority group earnings, mobility, and broader labor market and local experiences? Responding to recent calls for a more comprehensive approach to understanding racial/ethnic labor market inequality (e.g., see Portes and Rumbaut 2001; Kornrich 2009; Restifo, Roscigno, and Qian 2013), this dissertation examines how individual and structural processes simultaneously shape historical and contemporary racial/ethnic minority labor market experiences and outcomes. Drawing on quantitative and qualitative research techniques, I undertake three in-depth comparative analyses centering on Atlanta, Chicago, Los Angeles and New York City—four metropolitan areas encompassing diverse racial/ethnic populations, industrial makeup, and social-political dynamics. Utilizing U.S. Census microdata (1910 to 1930), my first analysis focuses on early twentieth century male labor force participants andexamines group-specific economic sector concentrations and earnings differentials for various immigrant and domestic minority groups. My second analysis introduces a novel dataset derived from content analysis of the Atlanta Constitution, Chicago Daily Tribune, Los Angeles Times, and New York Times (1905-1920), and explores processes frequently associated with labor market inequality—including racial/ethnic antagonisms, stereotyping, and assimilation. Finally, my third analysis draws on data from the 2010 American Community Survey, and examines present-day wage disparities for immigrant and domestic minority men and women in these same four cities. Findings clearly demonstrate, for both historical and contemporary periods and across distinct labor markets, the ways in which assimilative and human capital attributes are important for reducing labor market inequality. The analyses also demonstrate, however, important ways in which labor market opportunities and returns are embedded within, and disparately shaped by, dynamics of inter-group competition and racial/ethnic hierarchy. This was true for certain white ethnics at the turn of the last century as well as for Asian and Latino immigrant populations today. And in both eras, caste-like barriers are pronounced for African Americans. Taken together, this dissertation sheds important light on processes of racial/ethnic closure relative to historical and contemporary periods, and depending on the competitive mix of populations, within specific labor markets.

Url: https://etd.ohiolink.edu/pg_10?0::NO:10:P10_ACCESSION_NUM:osu1373814206

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Authors: Restifo, Salvatore, J

Institution: Ohio State University

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Degree: Doctor of Philosophy

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Data Collections: IPUMS USA

Topics: Labor Force and Occupational Structure, Migration and Immigration, Race and Ethnicity

Countries: United States