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Geography and the Immigrant Division of Labor

Author

Listed:
  • Mark Ellis
  • Richard Wright
  • Virginia Parks

Abstract

Immigrants concentrate in particular lines of work. Most investigations of such employment niching have accented either the demand for labor in a limited set of mostly low-wage industries or the efficiency of immigrant networks in supplying that labor; space has taken a backseat or has been ignored. In contrast, this article’s account of immigrant employment niching modulates insights built on social network theories with understandings derived from relative location. We do so by altering the thinking about employment niches as being metropolitan wide to considering them as local phenomena. Specifically, the analysis examines the intraurban variation in niching by Mexican, Salvadoran, Chinese, and Vietnamese men and women in four industries in Los Angeles. Niching is uneven; in some parts of the metropolitan area, these groups niche at high rates in these industries, whereas in others, there is no unusual concentration. We show how a group’s propensity to niche in an industry is generally higher when the industry is located close to the group’s residential neighborhoods and demonstrate the ways in which the proximity of competing groups dampens this geographic advantage. The study speaks to debates on immigrant niching and connects with research on minority access to employment and accounts of the agglomeration of firms. More generally, it links the geographies of home and work in a new way, relating patterns of immigrant residential segregation to those of immigrant employment niches.

Suggested Citation

  • Mark Ellis & Richard Wright & Virginia Parks, 2007. "Geography and the Immigrant Division of Labor," Economic Geography, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 83(3), pages 255-281, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:recgxx:v:83:y:2007:i:3:p:255-281
    DOI: 10.1111/j.1944-8287.2007.tb00354.x
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Hellerstein, Judith K. & Neumark, David & McInerney, Melissa, 2008. "Spatial mismatch or racial mismatch?," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 64(2), pages 464-479, September.
    2. Fredrik Andersson & Mónica García-Pérez & John Haltiwanger & Kristin McCue & Seth Sanders, 2014. "Workplace Concentration of Immigrants," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 51(6), pages 2281-2306, December.
    3. Judith K. Hellerstein & Melissa Mcinerney & David Neumark, 2010. "Spatial Mismatch, Immigrant Networks, and Hispanic Employment in the United States," Annals of Economics and Statistics, GENES, issue 99-100, pages 141-167.
    4. José Lobo & Charlotta Mellander, 2020. "Let’s stick together: Labor market effects from immigrant neighborhood clustering," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 52(5), pages 953-980, August.
    5. K. Bruce Newbold & Darren M. Scott & Charles Burke, 2017. "Immigrant status and commute distance: an exploratory study based on the greater Golden Horseshoe," Transportation, Springer, vol. 44(1), pages 181-198, January.
    6. Cathy Yang Liu & Gary Painter, 2010. "Immigrant Settlement and Employment Suburbanization: Is There a Spatial Mismatch?," Working Paper 8514, USC Lusk Center for Real Estate.
    7. Michael Smart, 2015. "A nationwide look at the immigrant neighborhood effect on travel mode choice," Transportation, Springer, vol. 42(1), pages 189-209, January.
    8. Cathy Yang Liu & Gary Painter, 2012. "Immigrant Settlement and Employment Suburbanisation in the US," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 49(5), pages 979-1002, April.
    9. Allen J. Scott, 2012. "A World in Emergence," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 15038.
    10. Odessa Gonzalez Benson, 2021. "Refugee Resettlement Patterns in the USA: Examining Labor Market Conditions and Immigration Policies in Cities of Primary Placement and Secondary Internal Migration," Journal of International Migration and Integration, Springer, vol. 22(4), pages 1505-1524, December.
    11. Fredrik Andersson & Mónica García-Pérez & John Haltiwanger & Kristin McCue & Seth Sanders, 2014. "Workplace Concentration of Immigrants," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 51(6), pages 2281-2306, December.
    12. Qingfang Wang, 2008. "Race/Ethnicity, Gender and Job Earnings across Metropolitan Areas in the United States: A Multilevel Analysis," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 45(4), pages 825-843, April.
    13. Siobhán R McPhee, 2014. "Ireland’s immigration policies (1997–present): Links to global trends of labour division and effects on national labour market structure," Local Economy, London South Bank University, vol. 29(6-7), pages 579-597, September.
    14. Cathy Yang Liu & Eric Joseph van Holm, 2019. "The Geography of Occupational Concentration Among Low-Skilled Immigrants," Economic Development Quarterly, , vol. 33(2), pages 107-120, May.
    15. Daniel Chatman, 2014. "Explaining the “immigrant effect” on auto use: the influences of neighborhoods and preferences," Transportation, Springer, vol. 41(3), pages 441-461, May.
    16. Miwa Matsuo, 2020. "Carpooling and drivers without household vehicles: gender disparity in automobility among Hispanics and non-Hispanics in the U.S," Transportation, Springer, vol. 47(4), pages 1631-1663, August.
    17. Magnus Strömgren & Tiit Tammaru & Alexander Danzer & Maarten Ham & Szymon Marcińczak & Olof Stjernström & Urban Lindgren, 2014. "Factors Shaping Workplace Segregation Between Natives and Immigrants," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 51(2), pages 645-671, April.

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