Reading Questions Week 12
Immigration and the Cities

1. In what way is this wave of immigrants different than the last large wave at the turn of the century?
    
2. Why are Latinos different from other immigrants and how does this difference impede their potential upward mobility?
    
3. What is an “hourglass” economy?
    
4. Why did the U.S. experience such a large wave of immigration after the mid-1960?
    
5. According to Waldinger, why are Latinos able to find work relatively easily?
    
6. Why do blacks have a hard time finding employement relative to immigrants?
    
7. What is network theory and what does it predict regarding labor markets?
    
8. How does gender play a role in the prospects for blacks and for Latino immigrants?
    
9. What are the benefits of the ethnic niche?
    
10. What does Waldinger mean by “adequate employment? 
     
11. Compare the employment prospects of blacks and Latinos across the education spectrum.
     
12. Which group is more likely to find adequate employment?  Why?
     
13. Among women, which group is the most disadvantaged in the urban labor markets?  Why?
     
14. According the Lowenstein article (The Immigration Equation), is immigration good for the U.S. economy?
     
15. According the Berkeley economist David Card, how is the U.S. able to absorb so many immigrants?
     
16. Why do Mexican immigrants earn so much less on average that native born workers and other immigrants?
     
17. What are the possible explanations for growing wage inequality in the U.S.?