Industrial Channeling Among New Immigrants

Matthew Sanderson, Kansas State University
Matthew Painter , University of Wyoming

Recent work introduces the concept of “channeling” and asks whether some forms of work provide ready-made paths into analogous work sectors in the U.S. labor market. In this study, we build on this prior work by taking up the question of how channeling affects the economic integration of immigrants’ from a variety of source countries. To explore this idea, we use the New Immigrant Survey and simultaneous equation modeling. Our study contributes to this literature by focusing on industrial sectors across a diverse sample and identifying a consistent pattern across these different countries. This demonstrates the increasing integration of these economies – and the resulting articulation of the labor markets – of between these nations. Overall, this study joins a growing body of literature that is interested in the work transitions that accompany migration between the United States and various sending countries.

See extended abstract

 Presented in Session 7. Migration & Urbanization