Started from the Bottom Now We're Where? African‐American and Latino Niching in Gulf Coast Metros

Abstract

Objectives Labor market concentration, or niching, is a process by which individuals are concentrated in particular sectors often by racial or ethnic group, gender, or economic standing. Niching limits economic upward mobility for certain groups, particularly African Americans and Latinos, and processes encouraging niching may change over time. Methods This study examines African‐American and Latino occupational niching in New Orleans and Houston in 2000 and 2008–2012 using confidential microdata and in relation to both individual and neighborhood characteristics. Results Individual and local human capital levels are found to play important roles in niching likelihood, in addition to other individual characteristics, such as foreign‐born status and neighborhood conditions, specifically local co‐racial and co‐ethnic population percentages. Conclusions Results overall highlight the importance of place‐ and group‐specific approaches to both policy and research related to improving economic outcomes for racial and ethnic groups. These customized efforts are particularly important in metropolitan areas undergoing rapid economic, social, and demographic growth and restructuring such as New Orleans and Houston.

Dimensions of Inequality: Black Immigrants’ Occupational Segregation in the United States

“…Nearly 65 percent of Caribbean immigrants live in the New York and Miami metropolitan areas (Zong and Batalova 2016), and more than one quarter of Africans live in the New York, Washington, D.C., and Atlanta metropolitan areas (Zong and Batalova 2017). As Gleave (2017) noted, black immigrant segregation patterns in places with small black immigrant populations can skew results, possibly because of small group representation in the models. Furthermore, because of black immigrants’ extreme concentration, segregation results obtained at the national level are unlikely to resemble the lived experiences of black immigrants.…”

“…There is consistent evidence of racial discrimination in employers’ hiring decisions (Pager and Shepherd 2008) leaving racial minorities concentrated in jobs with less stability and fewer opportunities for advancement (Parcel and Mueller 1983; Smith 2002). Although U.S.-born minorities are thought to come into competition with immigrants because of segregation in low-skill jobs (Catanzarite 2000), there is little overlap in predominantly U.S.-born black and predominantly immigrant occupations (Gleave 2017; Liu 2013). This may be because U.S.-born blacks are the dominant workforce in public sector occupations (Rosenfeld and Tienda 1999), in which stringent hiring practices reduce the likelihood of hiring discrimination (Waldinger 1996).…”