Economic Disparities Among Latinos

Many workers work in jobs that pay them under the table or in horrible conditions. “Latino households can expect to earn 70 cents to a dollar less than the average white person makes. Hispanic households make 12 cents to a dollar less than white non-Hispanic people” (Schaefer, 2012, P. 224). With Latinos and Hispanics working under the table, they are not making as much as they would make if they were earning a paycheck legally. Since they are also sending money home to their families they have very little left of what they do earn for themselves. “Out of the last quarter century, the proportion of Latinos in poverty has been two or three times that of white non-Hispanics” (Schaefer, 2012, P. 224). With the average American battling to stay above the poverty line, more of the Latino and Hispanic communities are below it because of the financial obstacles in the way. Latino and Hispanic populations have been rapidly growing in the United States. “In 1975 congress addressed citizens with multilingual backgrounds” (Schaefer, 2012, P. 226). Many Latino and Hispanic Americans want to become legal so they can participate in the political position of being a United States citizen. Latino and Hispanic Americans want to be able to vote in upcoming elections. Since the increase in their population and the decision of congress in 1975; more ballots are being made to be English and Spanish depending on the particular country, city or state (Schaefer, 2012, P.

Throughout this first chapter of Latino Americans the key points in my opinion were the following. Starting with the origin story of the Americas, the book mentions there might not be a definitive starting point because there “500 nations in North America before a European ship ever dropped anchor off the Eastern Seaboard” (Suarez 3). The book from this point on chronologically starts narrating, first about 55 years before Protestant refugees from Mayflower ever stepped on American soil, a Spanish sailor Pedro Menendez de Aviles forced French protestants from their Florida coast settlement to then stablish St. Augustine. From this point the book continues to tell the stories of Juan de Oñate, from witnessing the founding of Santa Fe, the oldest capital of North America, to exploring more than half a dozen of American states, he is one of the most fundamental conquistadors who is the least

with a daily strain of benefits that, in almost every state, do not even take

Immigrants have been migrating into the United States and concentrating themselves in large urban areas for more than a century (Crowley and Ebert, 2014). These immigrants, particularly the Mexican population, have experienced forces of being both pushed out of Mexico as well as pulled into America for reasons involving economic restructuring, employment opportunities, and differences in compensation (Jenkins, 1977; Pew Research Center, 2009; Sanderson, 2013; Crowley and Ebert 2014). However, in contrast to their traditional urban destinations, Hispanic immigrants have been moving to non-traditional destinations in rural America for the past few decades due to legislation and job openings among a variety of other factors (Crowley and Ebert, 2014). Unfortunately, immigrants are not always warmly welcomed into these communities, and they may experience difficulties that could make them rethink the decision of immigration all together. The purpose of this paper is to identify those forces that have influenced Hispanic immigration into the United States, especially into rural communities, as well as some of the obstacles that these immigrants

In Linda Chavez’s, “Hispanics and the American Dream” she starts by showing the growth of Hispanics in America and how they are depicted. She sees them as a valuable part of society that is steadily climbing to new heights on the socioeconomic ladder, yet the population perceives them to be the lower end and will likely remain that way. She goes on to prove this assumption by the way Hispanics are shown in the media, which states that poor and Hispanic goes hand in hand when thought of. What is failed to be seen is that most Hispanics are steadily in the middle class, but this varies within the group just as it does with all races. The analysts take into consideration the immigrants who have just entered America, legal or illegal, which in turn causes the balance to shift towards the poor side of the spectrum. Our overall perception of Hispanics plays a role in their place in society.

New York City's fastest growing immigrant group are Dominicans, a Spanish speaking people, flocking from the Dominican Republic to the United States, New York City in specific. In 1980 the Dominican population in NYC was 125,380, in 1990 it was 332,713, and today in 1999 it is an estimated 500,000 people. The only problem with this is through the years of their migration to America, their per capita income has declined precipitously. It seems as though when the Dominican population in America increases, their income as a whole decreases. Nearly half of the Dominicans in NYC live below the poverty level. In 1990 29% of Dominicans where on welfare. Of foreign people immigrating to the U.S., only people from the former Soviet Union had a higher percentage of people living on public assistance. From 1989 to 1996 their per capita income declined 23% to $6,094 a year, in inflation adjusted dollars, while their poverty rate rose from 37% to 46%, that is almost double for the city as a whole. Unemployment also rose from 17.2% in 1990 to 18.8% in 1996 (Lopez, p. 3). The source of these severe economic problems

To begin, In Latino Metropolis, Victor Valle and Rodolfo Torres suggest that the Latino population is a vital group to the political economy of Los Angeles. The Los Angeles economy was constructed through the manual labor of largely Latino immigrants, which the city today still heavily depends on (Valle and Torres, 2000, 15-16). In their chapter, Economic Geography of Latino Los Angeles, Valle and Torres argue that Latino immigrants working in the labor workforce in the Southeast Los Angeles area (cities such Vernon, Maywood, Bell, etc.) are often discriminated and often depicted by the media, anti-immigrant leaders, and sympathizers as victims and villains (Valle and Torres, 2000,

Eleanor Roosevelt said, “the future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.” That statement holds strong for immigrants in America. Equal access to opportunities allows immigrants to achieve the American dream. Their success correlates with America’s success because of the contributions immigrants provide to America. Unfortunately, the current immigration policy in America denies many immigrants the American dream. It is crucial to understand the historical context of immigration in America. Initially, most immigrants were from Europe and were not restricted by any immigration laws. Now, most immigrants come from Latin America but are restricted to severe immigration laws. The Latino/a community is one of the most

Black immigrants are a small but growing minority in the United States (U.S.) and in many ways a group to contend with. The majority of these immigrants come from the Caribbean; however, the African population has soared since 2000. As a whole, the black immigrant population has more than quadrupled since 1980 and has become over 10% of the black population of some large metropolitan areas such as New York (28%), Miami (34%), and Washington DC (15%). One factor that makes this group particularly interesting is their general success in this country despite their immigrant status and race. In many ways, they have been shown to outpace African Americans in areas such as economics and academics (Anderson, 2015).

U.S. Welfare started as a federally funded program in the 1930’s during the Great Depression to help aid those families and individuals who had little to no income. The Federal Government was in charge of the U.S. welfare system for sixty years, until the 1990’s when there was an uproar of Americans who were unsatisfied with the way the Federal Government was handling those who were receiving government aid. Many Americans believed that these individuals were abusing the welfare program by “not applying for jobs, having more children just to get more aid, and staying unmarried so as to qualify for benefits.” (Welfareinfo, 2016) In 1996, the states were handed control of the welfare system due to the passed reform law signed by President Bill Clinton.

Mexicans, in fact, represent the biggest portion of the Latino population in the United States, but they have not received the same treatment as other groups such as the Cubans and Puerto Ricans who share the Latino label but have had a different experience in America. Most Mexicans have entered the United States for purposes of labor, and although they have now established themselves in most border states, their education level still remains low with very few having a college degree. On the other hand, Cubans were able to enjoy a privileged legal migration into the United States, many who fled the Cuban revolution were, in fact, part of the elite and, therefore, arrived with some resources of their own in the 60’s and also received considerable government assistance upon their arrival. The Cuban children were provided with education programs that would help them improved their English language skills and have a smooth integration. The direct inclusion of Cubans into American society can be seen today with political leaders of Cuban descent being contenders to the presidential position. Puerto Ricans, although being considered US

Miami is well known as a city where a lot of immigrants migrate to and continuously grow in numbers. The increase in the Hispanic population is usually due to family ties that influence other members to relocate to the city. Persuasion of a better life and opportunity for their children is what influenced my parents to move to Miami in the mid 1980’s. According to my parents the diversity in languages and cultural background made it

Urban Poverty and Inequality Segregation by political interests remains among the leading sources of concern over the prospective sense of inequality towards the poor and the undocumented workers. Apparently, there exist various avenues upon which the promotion of the poor and undocumented workers emerge in the economy. Among them includes the concern of illegal immigration, as well as the trends of urban migration. The prospective ability of such policies in the promotion of urban poverty remains active when perceived along the labor trends and the political sphere. There exist a number of concerns upon which the concern of urban poverty may be addressed. However, upon narrowing on the attributes of the poor persons and the undocumented employees,

The introduction of workfare to work policy arguably centres around societal integration of the marginalized, which could greatly benefit welfare recipients. If implemented effectively it would provide the opportunity for underclass citizens to secure a job and therefore a steady income. The basis of the program is to decrease transient employment, and aid in job search as well as skills building in hopes of bringing more individuals and families above the poverty line. Workfare programs in the United States have centred around providing the opportunity to “fast track” into the labour market with the help of social services such as counselling, group activities, job searching, skills training, educational opportunities and subsidized volunteer

I am a quantitative sociologist broadly interested in three areas: 1) stratification and inequality; 2) immigration and globalization, 3) work and labor markets. Specifically, I focus on examining how class structure and migration patterns contribute to social inequalities and labor market outcomes. Also, I work on the themes of immigration, work and occupations in the United States. I am particularly interested in examining these processes in the urban context.