The Second Generation's Labor Market Incorporation

Aviva Zeltzer-Zubida, Brooklyn College, City University of New York

Both social science and everyday observation suggest that immigrants and their ‘ethnic’ descendants tend to congregate in particular industries and occupations. However, the centrality of race and ethnicity as organizing principles of labor market trajectories of immigrants and their children, and the mechanisms that produce these concentrations -- are subjects of much debate in the immigration literature. Using data from the "Second Generation in Metropolitan New York" project and the Current Population Survey, this study examines patterns of ethnic and racial concentration in the local labor market, among several groups of young New Yorkers. By utilizing two different measures of ethnic concentration in the labor market, I argue that: race and ethnicity have a significant role in shaping labor market experiences of the studied groups; that patterns of labor market concentration vary across groups and industries; and that we cannot assume co-ethnic employment on the basis of ethnic representation measures.