Immigrant Workers The project of this essay is to use

The project of this essay is to use Portes' and Rumbaut's Immigrant America: A Portrait to discuss how immigrants have incorporated themselves into the American economic system by working as salaried professionals, wage and day laborers and self-employment, and to examine how some ethnic groups assimilate better while others falter when faced with the demands of adaptation to a new society and culture. These issues are particularly topical given the current state of American political agenda and middle-class economic paranoia. In her article on refugees and immigrants, Marilyn Lacey (1994) cites a recent Time magazine poll which revealed that "73% of Americans consider immigration a serious problem that needs to be controlled," and in an article similar in tone, Jack Miles (1995) writes that the American debate on immigration "may well dominate the 1996 presidential campaign." In spite of all the rhetoric, immigrant continue to flow into the United States, and with varying degrees of success, succeed or fail depending on a host of non-political factors that this essay will discuss.

To a large extent the rise in immigration in this country is attributive to the restructuring of immigration laws in 1965, which allowed greater access to more immigrants (Portes & Rumbaut 1990). Portes and Rumbaut (1990, p. 12) argue that America is a magnet for immigrant for two reasons: 1) it is representative of consumer culture and higher aspirations; and 2) "global diffusi

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, while discriminatory policies are directed toward such ethnic groups as the Ethiopians or the Vietnamese (Portes & Rumbaut, 1990, pp. 86, 91). The labor market plays a large role in the successful reception of immigrants. Stages in the business cycle and the demands for certain types of labor (skilled versus unskilled) are certainly important, but Portes and Rumbaut (1990, pp. 86-87) suggest that sociological factors are perhaps even more significant; the way immigrant groups are positively or negatively "typified" by employers can restrict certain ethnic groups, Hispanics, for example, to low-wage work, or can even preclude employment at all. The most immediate factor in successful reception is the ethnic community itself. When an ethnic community does not exist, a new immigrant must confront the labor market without the support of friends or family. Most common, contend Portes and Rumbaut (1990, pp. 88-89), is the immigrant who enters a pre-existing community and is assisted in getting outside employment, sources of jobs inside the community, sources or credit and financial support for entrepreneurial ventures. This type of situation and support is obviously the best form of aid in the successful reception process

Category: Government - I