Center for Latino Policy Research

The current debate concerning job competition between immigrant and nonimmigrant has intensified because of the large increase in immigration and the simultaneous growth in urban poverty rates for African Americans and other ethnic minority groups during the 1970s. The debate focuses on the possible wage and displacement effects that an increase in immigration would cause for the U.S.-born population. Empirical research on the displacement effects of increased immigration focuses on aggregate, national samples, industrial and occupational sectoral studies, and analysis of labor market outcomes across differences and never considers industrial change (i.e., growth or decline) and institutional barriers, such as high-skilled and low-skilled labor markets.

Using 1970 and 1980 census data (PUS and PUMS files, respectively) for Los Angeles, by specific types of labor markets (industries and occupations), and according to race and ethnicity (white, black, Mexican, Latino, and Asian) and nativity (foreign-born and U.S.-born), I argue that immigrants do not simply function as either competitive or complementary sources of labor. Instead, I hypothesize that job competition between groups of workers depends in part on whether U.S.-born workers belong to protected or unprotected labor markets and whether they are employed in growing or declining industries.

Based on the results of this study, I conclude that segmentation/queuing theory best describes the labor market processes between immigrant and native-born labor in Los Angeles during 1970 and 1980. Overall, the data in this study show that immigrants are not displacing native-born labor in disproportionate numbers, especially in industries. Instances are found, however, of isolated job displacement between immigrants and native-born whites and/or Mexicans in occupations. The data also show that complementarity is more frequent than displacement and that decreases in white labor are not the result of immigrant employment growth. These two findings taken together suggest a process of job queuing assert that immigration is not a major contributor to a black and Latino underclass in Los Angles