Ethnic‐Controlled Economy or Segregation? Exploring Inequality in Latina/o Co‐Ethnic Jobsites¹

Abstract

Recent research has increasingly focused on how ethnicity operates within labor markets. Due to perceptions of intragroup homogeneity and assumptions that inequality only occurs between majority whites and people of color, most research has neglected intragroup economic inequality. This study examines how skin color, immigration ⁄ nativity status, and gender influence wage differentials in Latina ⁄ o co-ethnic jobsites (where workers are the same ethnicity). Using data from the Los Angeles Study of Urban Inequality (LASUI), it is found that there are skin color, immigration ⁄ nativity status, and sex wage gaps among Latina ⁄ os working in co-ethnic jobsites. Moreover, illustrating intersectionality, immigrant women and dark-skinned immigrants suffer from wage gaps in co-ethnic jobsites. Unexpectedly, some Latinas experience a wage advantage, in comparison with Latinos, which is associated with lighter skin. The author suggests that Latinas are subjected to multiplejeopardy situations in which they experience an intersection of inequalities in jobsites saturated by co-ethnics but that lightness of skin color functions as a form of social capital. Thus, research on the benefits or costs associated with working with co-ethnics cannot be extended to the entire ethnic group. The conclusion is that for Central Americans and Mexicans, co-ethnic jobsites are generally forms of segregated employment with limited protection from discrimination.

From Social Capital to Inequality: Migrant Networks in Different Stages of Labor Incorporation

“…At the jobsite level, while some scholars argue that Latino occupational concentrations that are sustained through social networks are illustrations of social closure in which rewards are maximized by restricting outsiders from accessing resources (e.g., Waldinger and Lichter ), others find that such workplaces are associated with racial/ethnic segregation characterized by unfavorable economic returns (see Elliott ; Falcon and Melendez ; Nee and Sanders ). Indeed, Latino labor sectors are described as forms of degradation (Catanzarite ), as “occupational ghettos” (Catanzarite and Aguilera ), and as segregation (Falcon and Melendez ; Kmec ; Morales ). Moreover, the work of Cranford (:382) illustrates that exclusionary closure leads to the stagnation of mobility, to the point that “immigrants may be piling up at the bottom rather than moving upwards.” Thus, rather than maximizing economic rewards through social closure, these researchers argue that Latino immigrant and ethnic networks create niches associated with unfavorable workplace and unfavorable economic outcomes.…”

Tolerance and Economic Performance in American Metropolitan Areas: An Empirical Investigation1

“…The importance of diversity over several dimensions to economic performance both in consumption and production has been explored by social scientists, especially by economists (Anderson, 1985; Bairoch, 1988; Damaske 2009; Desrochers, 2001; Fujita et al, 1999; Glaeser et al, 2001; Jacobs, 1969; Morales, 2009; Quigley, 1998). Alesina and La Ferrara (2005) surveyed and assessed the literature on the positive and negative effects of ethnic diversity on economic policies and outcomes.…”

Colorism and the Afro-Latinx Experience: A Review of the Literature

“…The influence of branqueamento/blanqueamiento is also observed in this setting, where occupational prestige among Mexicans and Cubans, is higher for those whose phenotypical features are closer to European than African or Indigenous. Furthermore, Latinos (and even more so, Latinas) with darker skin earn less money than lighter-skinned Latinos and Latinas (Morales, 2008; Morales, 2009; Nance, 2005). This may be due to in part to lower occupational prestige and lower educational attainment levels experienced by darker-skinned Latinos and Latinas.…”