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Jobs, Race, and Immigration
The nature of employment in the U.S. has changed and is changing. Good blue-collar jobs (with decent pay and benefits) in manufacturing, transportation, etc. are gone or on the decline.
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High technology, service, professionaland managerial jobs are on the rise. Technological and international economic forces have driven these changes. Lowering labor costs, increasing profits and reducing worker power has been the motive.
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This shift has increased the demand for skilled workers and those with at least some college; also increased demand for low-wage workers to service the “middle-class” – childcare workers, etc. |
On the supply side, instead of producing more skilled and educated workers, poor quality schools and immigration have converged with other complicated factors (discussed below) to create an overabundance of low-income, unskilled workers. |
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The changing economy and the effects of globalization have lead to an increased strain in the tension between African Americans and immigrants. |
The Connection between Jobs and Immigration
Push-Pull factors drive immigration. The push is the lack of voice (mainly political) and economic opportunity in home countries. The pull is work and other opportunities in receiving countries.
But the pull factors are perverted – advanced and post-industrial economies (including the U.S.) have a chronic need for cheap labor: workers who are willing to labor under unpleasant conditions at low wages and with little stability and chance for advancement.
The function of labor markets: There are two kinds of labor markets in advanced and post-industrial economies that, taken together, form a labor hierarchy: primary sector firms (“good jobs”) and secondary sector firms (“bad jobs”).
Primary sector firms “good jobs”, for the most part, consist of skilled jobs and a small number of unskilled jobs. Employers need these workers and so invest in them with training, education, benefits, higher wages, severance pay and unemployment insurance. These jobs are stable and long-term.
Secondary sector firms “bad jobs” usually consist of unskilled non-union jobs. These jobs have low wages and lack benefits, training and educational opportunities. They are characterized by unstable and short-term relationships with employers. When there’s a flux in economic activity and a firm loses money or wants to increase its profit, employers respond by cutting the payroll, entering into sub-contracting relationships or employing workers through independent contractor relationships; this practice is more dominant in the secondary sector than the primary. There’s also a shift now taking place in the economy. This shift has created a decline in primary sector jobs or “good jobs” (both in terms of their number and quality). It also has expanded the number of secondary firms or “bad jobs” and expanded secondary firm behavior into the primary sector.
Historically, skills and union protection (key fixtures in the primary sector) have shielded primary sector workers. And on top of this, companies can’t lay off equipment, machinery and other capital. This makes the secondary sector firms/jobs more vulnerable.
Labor Hierarchy: There will always be a labor hierarchy – the primary sector is at the top. Secondary sector is at the bottom. It’s assumed that every race and ethnic group enters at the bottom and climbs the “job ladder” to the top. European immigrants did this. But Blacks, Latinos and other new immigrants either haven’t or are challenged in doing so. Why?
The Job Ladder>>
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