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Resumo

This paper reports on a survey of employers to assess the impact of immigration and employer practices on black employment chances in Los Angeles. We observe a process of cumulative causation in which a set of mutually reinforcing changes raise barriers to the hiring of blacks. Network hiring seems to have a dual function, bringing immigrant communities into the workplace, while at the same time detaching vacancies from the open market, thus diminishing opportunities for blacks. Employers also perceive immigrants as far more desirable employees than blacks, in part, because they expect that immigrants will be the more productive workers, in part, because they also see immigrants as more tractable labor. Any managerial propensity to favor immigrants is likely to be reinforced by the attitudes of the predominantly Latino workforce, as inserting a black worker in a predominantly Latino crew is not a technique for increasing productivity, given the hostility between the two groups. And African-Americans seem to play their own role in this process, apparently opting out of the low-level labor market in response to rising expectations, on the one hand, and the anticipation of employment difficulties on the other.

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