Strong Ties, Weak Ties, and Human Capital: Latino Immigrant Employment Outside the Enclave

“This analysis extends earlier research by focusing on more rural contexts with limited labor-market opportunities and less access to social resources provided by coethnics. We reconsider conclusions of previous studies by focusing on areas with limited labor-market opportunities and less access to resources provided by coethnics. Using data from in-depth interviews, focus-group discussions, and surveys of former farmworkers in five rural communities in New York, we consider how individuals move from agricultural to other types of employment. Multinomial logit and ordinary least squares regression analyses confirm indications from our qualitative data that strong social ties, weak ties, and human capital all play distinctive parts in the economic integration of immigrants outside the ethnic enclave. These resources have the most positive impact on incomes when they contribute to the immigrants' self-reliance in finding employment. This finding is consistent with observations from the social-network literature that those who are less reliant on strong social ties are better able to take advantage of a broader range of labor-market opportunities” (Abstractor: Author).

For additional background information, access the following studies referenced in this site:

Understanding the diversity of immigrant Incorporation: a Forms-of-Capital Model- http://www.economyandsociety.org/publications/NeeSanders_Understanding_diversity_immigrant_incorporation.pdf

Revisiting the Enclave Hypothesis: Miami Twenty-Five Years Later - http://www.princeton.edu/cmd/working-papers/papers/wp0610.pdf

Weak Ties, Strong Ties: Network Principles in Mexican Migration- http://www.questia.com/library/1P3-37216243/weak-ties-strong-ties-network-principles-in-mexican

“We examined human capital in schooling completed, English-language ability, and immigration status, all important considerations in gaining access to labor markets . • “A small group of the best endowed are most prepared to form weak social ties that enable them to take advantage of business opportunities catering to the growing population of immigrants, mostly fellow Mexicans….” (p. 266) • “The most common way that immigrants find work is on their own, and those who find it this way are more likely to get better jobs. But immigrants who have more schooling, areable to speak English, and have immigration documents are also more likely to find better employment… (p. 266)” “Our interest in this article is to examine how immigrants in rural communities are integrated into nonfarm labor markets….Many of the new immigrant destinations have had few immigrants in recent decades and almost no experience with Latinos living in their communities. The Latino, mostly Mexican, immigrants initially arriving in these communities found relatively few coethnics….Given this social isolation, immigrants seeking steadier and better paying employment in nonfarm jobs must strike out on their own. Our study shows that those who are able to speak English and have immigration papers have a distinct advantage in securing nonfarm employment” (p. 266).

• Last Updated:
• Created:
• Resource Publication Date: 2009
• Author(s): Pfeffer, Max J. and Parra, Pilar A.
• Organizational Author(s): Development Sociology Department, Cornell University
• Funding Source: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Cornell University Agricultural Experiment Station
• Resource Availability: Publicly available
• Posted by: Wesley Peterson
• Posted in: Workforce System Strategies