About | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline
LOG IN
LOG IN

28 Int'l Migration Rev. 3 (1994)

handle is hein.journals/imgratv28 and id is 1 raw text is: The Making of an Immigrant Niche' Roger Waldinger Unversity of California, Los Angeles Although the dominant paradigm of immigrant employment views immigrants as clustered in a limited number of occupations or indus- tries hat comprise a niche, the explanations of how immigrants enter and establish these niches remain incomplete. While most researchers emphasize the importance of social networks, the social network ap- proach begs the issue of how to account for the insertion and consoli- dation of immigrant networks as opposed to those dominated by incumbent native workers. This article seeks to answer this question through a case study of immigrantprofessional employeesinNewYork City government. I argue that the growth of this im ant niche resulted from changes in the relative supply of native workers and in the structure of employment, which opened the bureaucracy to immi- grants and reduced native/immigrant competition. These shifts opened hiring portals; given the advantages of network hiring for workers and managers, and an immigrant propensity for government em loyment, network recruitment led to a rapid buildup in immigrant A lthough the dominant paradigm of immigrant employment views immigrants as clustered in a limited number of occupations o indus- tries that comprise a niche (Morawska, 1990; Model, forthcoming; U.S. Department of Labor, 1989), the explanations of how immigrants enter and establish these niches remain incomplete. As with so many other matters in immigration research, a social network approach provides the best tool for approaching the issue (Tilly, 1990). In the context of immigrant employ- ment, networks comprise a source of social capital,just as Coleman (1988) has specified, providing social structures that facilitate action, in this case, job search, hiring, recruitment, and training. Networks are particularly critical for their role in organizing information flows between newcomers and settlers, on the one hand, and between workers and employers on the other; by increasing the quality and quantity of information, networks increase immigrants' ability to access employment opportunities and re- duce employers' risks associated with hiring and training (Bailey and Waldinger, 1991). While cogent, the network approach omits a critical issue: namely, how to account for the insertion and consolidation of immigrant networks as opposed to those dominated by incumbent native workers. That is, unless immigrants move into an entirely new or rapidly expanding industry, a common enough situation in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries but unusual today, they must enter as replacements for some previously established group. 1 Thanks to Ivan Light, Carroll Seron, and the anonymous readers and editors of IMR for comments on an earlier draft. IMR Volume xxviii, No.1 3

What Is HeinOnline?

HeinOnline is a subscription-based resource containing thousands of academic and legal journals from inception; complete coverage of government documents such as U.S. Statutes at Large, U.S. Code, Federal Register, Code of Federal Regulations, U.S. Reports, and much more. Documents are image-based, fully searchable PDFs with the authority of print combined with the accessibility of a user-friendly and powerful database. For more information, request a quote or trial for your organization below.



Short-term subscription options include 24 hours, 48 hours, or 1 week to HeinOnline.

Purchase Access

Contact us for annual subscription options:

Contact Us

Already a HeinOnline Subscriber?

Log In

profiles profiles most