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Editor's Note, Padraig O'Malley

New England Journal of Public Policy

These two issues of the Journal focus exclusively on the Latino community in the United States, which is the fastest-growing minority in the country. It is a development that poses profound questions regarding the course this country will take into the twenty-first century and the way in which it will define itself. It will sever the almost metaphysical distinctions between the melting pot and multiculturalism, opposites on a philosophical curve that are as much self-created as self-evident.

Three areas of Latino experience are examined in this volume — the impact of immigration policies, employment and income opportunities, and the degree …

Social Networks And Employment For Latinos, Blacks, And Whites, Luis M. Falcón

New England Journal of Public Policy

Despite the immigrant character of Latino groups in the United States, little attention has been given to the role of social networks in the job-search process and in labor market outcomes for Latinos. The literature on social networks describes their use as important in providing access to jobs but neutral as to affecting earnings or attainment of prestige. This study uses data from a 1988-1989 Boston survey to examine the effect of finding employment through social networks on the income attainment of white, black, and Latino workers. Job seekers in all groups rely on such networks, but Latinos exhibit the …

Foreword, Edwin Meléndez

New England Journal of Public Policy

This is the first of two parts of "Latinos in a Changing Society"; Part II is scheduled for Fall/Winter 1995 publication. The following articles provide new insights into several key areas of concern: immigration, employment and income, and political participation. Part II articles will address education, health, and identity and ethnicity.

Latinos And Labor: Challenges And Opportunities, Andrés Torres

New England Journal of Public Policy

The growing presence of Latino workers in the Massachusetts labor force presents opportunities as well as challenges for the labor movement. An overview of occupational, industrial, and unionization patterns helps to describe the potential for Hispanic contribution to renewed union strength in the region. But revitalizing the house of labor in the twenty-first century requires an innovative interplay of workplace and community strategies. As labor comes to terms with its multiracial/multicultural constituency, the relationship between class and race/ethnicity is being revisited, as is the very definition of "labor movement."

Puerto Rican Politics In The United States: A Preliminary Assessment, José E. Cruz

New England Journal of Public Policy

This article examines the following question: What characterizes Puerto Rican political development and what promise does electoral politics hold for Puerto Ricans in the United States? Its central premise is that an analytical framework which focuses on economic deprivation and racial prejudice is partial and inadequate to an understanding of the political experience of Puerto Ricans. Throughout the years, mainland Puerto Ricans have moved in and out of the political stage holding the banners of anti-colonialism, separatism, incorporation, and ethnic identity in search of vantage points from which they can satisfy their cultural, social, and economic needs. Despite the Airbus …

Immigrant Workers In The Cleaning Industry: The Experience Of Boston's Central Americans, Karen M. Lado

New England Journal of Public Policy

This study has two objectives: to describe Central Americans' employment experience in the Boston area by focusing on cleaning workers and to explore the reasons why Central Americans in particular, and immigrants in general, become concentrated in industries like cleaning. The study highlights a number of characteristics of immigrant workers and of cleaning work that contribute to employment in the industry. Recent immigrants need jobs that do not require English skills or formal training, can be accessed informally, and offer schedules that allow them to take on additional work. Cleaning companies, in turn, need a constant source of reliable workers …

Industrial Change, Immigration, And Community Development: An Overview Of Europeans And Latinos, Ramón F. Borges-Méndez

New England Journal of Public Policy

The industrial forces and conditions of Massachusetts that awaited and attracted European immigrants were vastly different from those encountered by the more recent wave of Latino immigrants. This study seeks to compare and clarify what those forces and conditions were at three different times, especially in the small mill towns of Lowell, Lawrence, and Holyoke. The objective is to delineate a historical backdrop to allow an understanding of the present situation of Latinos in those cities and, to some extent, within the commonwealth of Massachusetts.

Compatriots Or Competitors? Job Competition Between Foreign- And U.S.-Born Angelenos, Abel Valenzuela Jr.

New England Journal of Public Policy

The debate concerning job competition between immigrant and nonimmigrant groups has intensified owing to the large increase in the 1970s and 1980s in immigration and the simultaneous growth in urban poverty rates for African-American and other minority groups. It focuses on the possible wage and displacement effects an increase in immigration would cause for the U.S.-born population. Using 1970 and 1980 industrial and occupational census data and shift-share methodology for Los Angeles, the author shows that immigrants do not simply function as either competitive or complementary sources of labor. Instead, he argues, job competition between groups of workers depends in …

Persistence Of Poverty Across Generations: A Comparison Of Anglos, Blacks, And Latinos, Anna M. Santiago, Yolanda C. Padilla

New England Journal of Public Policy

Utilizing data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, this study examines the impact of children's growing up in poverty on the probability of their remaining in poverty during young adulthood. The primary goals of the research are to examine racial, ethnic, and gender differences in patterns of persistent poverty and to identify predictors of poverty status in young adulthood. The results suggest that both women, regardless of their race, ethnicity, or adolescent poverty status, and black men who grew up in poverty are more likely to be poor as young adults than Anglo men. Logistic regression analyses reveal that …

"New" Civil Rights Strategies For Latino Political Empowerment, Seth Racusen

New England Journal of Public Policy

Latinos became the largest "minority" group and significantly increased their political representation in Massachusetts in the past decade. Even with these gains, their political power is not nearly commensurate with the size of their population. Many aspects of Latino political demographics, including a large immigrant population with low citizenship rates, high poverty rates, and dispersion across many electoral districts, contribute to their underrepresentation. The political demographics facing Massachusetts Latinos have led many analysts to prescribe alternative electoral systems as avenues to achieve increased political representation. This article reviews the critiques of the 1970s and 1980s civil rights redistricting strategies and …

Mexican-American Class Structure And Political Participation, Jorge Chapa

New England Journal of Public Policy

This article examines the political attitudes and participation of Mexican-Americans in the context of Milton Gordon's assimilation theory and William Julius Wilson's analyses of bifurcated economic structures resulting in middle-class and lower- or underclass populations. For Gordon, civic assimilation was a step toward complete assimilation. After demonstrating that the Mexican-American population has not achieved parity with the Anglo population even when controlling for generational differences over five decades, the author specifically examines the political attitudes and practices of lower-class (high school dropouts) and middle-class (high school graduates) third-generation Mexican-Americans. The two class groups have similar attitudes about bilingual education and …

Latina Women And Political Leadership: Implications For Latino Community Empowerment, Carol Hardy-Fanta

New England Journal of Public Policy

Mainstream studies of Latino politics have tended to reflect a primarily male view of political participation and political leadership. In such a view, the study of Latino political leadership continues the tradition of viewing leadership as derived from official positions in elected or appointed office and informal organizations. This article demonstrates that (1) contrary to prevailing myths, Latina women in Massachusetts run for and are elected to office in very high numbers, and (2) when the definition of political leadership is expanded to include community-based, not solely position-derived, forms of leadership, Latino community empowerment may depend, to a great extent, …

Latinos Need Not Apply: The Effects Of Industrial Change And Workplace Discrimination On Latino Employment, Edwin Meléndez, Françoise Carré, Evangelina Holvino

New England Journal of Public Policy

The objective of the research described here is to assess how recent changes in the organization of industry and discrimination in the workplace affect the employment of Latinos. One of the most important developments in labor markets during the past two decades is the erosion of internal labor markets. Employers are responding to intensified competitive conditions that developed during the 1980s: increased international competition in domestic markets and deregulation in telecommunications, banking, insurance, and other industries. The development of information technologies and the diffusion of secondary and postsecondary education have enabled organizations to cut labor costs. In particular, firms are …