Reflections on immigration to Europe in light of U.S. immigration history

Trends in international migration in Europe and the United States are analyzed and compared, with a focus on concern about the presence of migrants in the receiving country. Consideration is given to the acculturation of migrants in the United States, including a historical outline of that process as it occurred during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Cultural pluralism and the newest wave of immigration are also described. Implications for European immigration are assessed.     

U.S. immigration policy: the guestworker option revisited

In guestworker programs foreign nationals are admitted into another country on a nonmigrant status with severely curtailed social and limited labor market rights. The duration of stay is always finite and compliance with the terms of the contract are entered through a network of legal arrangements which allow officials in the receiving country a substantial amount of administrative discretion. Pro-guestworker arguments say that the borders cannot be closed, that guestworkers can be substituted for illegal aliens, that guestworkers are better than illegal aliens, and that additional labor benefits the US economy. Those against guestworker programs stress longterm socioeconomic issues rather than short-term economic advantages, saying that guestworker programs are no quick answer for illegal immigration, for domestic labor shortages, or for the US poor population. Guestworker programs, its opponents say, provide short-run economic benefits to a few employers and individuals at the expense of more widespread and longterm socioeconomic costs. They oppose: 1) the concept of admitting foreign workers with restricted rights, 2) the concentration of any negative labor market impacts on already disadvantaged domestic groups, 3) the proliferation of "jobs which Americans won't take," 4) many temporary guests ending up permanent residents, and 5) that exporting workers is as likely to impede as accelerate job-creating economic development in immigration countries. Most economists believe that diminishing marginal productivity produces downward-sloping short-run demand for labor schedules. The European experience with these programs has been different than those in the US since foreign workers in Europe were initially recruited in response to actual labor shortages and have always had legal status, but both Europe and the US have experienced large contingents of workers who remain in the countries and are at a pronounced power disadvantage regarding the society's institutions. Studies of guestworker programs have shown that worker flows eventually become impervious to the receiver's actual labor needs as employers disaggregate jobs into components which match the low skills of migrants and create additional foreign worker jobs which are then shunned by native labor, thus perpetuating a need for such labor. If the US opts for a large-scale guestworker program this will only replace 1 set of problems with another and it is not at all certain that large-scale guestworker admissions will proportionately reduce illegal migration inflows.     

The dynamics of the U.S. occupational structure during the 1990s

During the 1990s, the U.S. economy experienced dramatic structural changes, such as the decline in the defense industry following the end of the Cold War, an extraordinary amount of corporate restructuring and downsizing, a dramatic increase in computer usage in the workplace, the adoption of NAFTA, and the emergence of the global economy. These changes would lead one to expect fairly significant upheaval in the U.S. occupational structure. In fact, my findings indicate relatively remarkable stability of the U.S. labor market and its occupational structure. Moreover, many of the changes which have occurred have been beneficial. I thank an anonymous referee for helpful comments. I also thank Steven Hippie, Jay Meisenheimer, and Tiffany Stringer of the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor for providing some of the data for this study, as well as insight into their appropriate interpretation and use. Research support provided by Dowling College is gratefully acknowledged. The author assumes responsibility for any errors or omissions.     

On U.S. Foreign Policy in the Balkans in the 1990s: Spotlight on Croatia

In the 1990s, despite a change of administrations, U.S. policy towards the Balkans remained consistent. Post-Gulf War, the United States urged Europe to take the lead, but ultimately humanitarian considerations forced the United States to take an active, military role. Within the U.S. government, a struggle between ``incrementalism' and a longer-term ``visionary approach' characterized internal debate. Incrementalism ultimately prevailed. The framework for U.S. policy decisions, especially in the early 1990s, led the United States to active involvement, including a lack of consensus in the United Nations on the use of force. Events, culminating in the ``Washington Agreement', led Croatia to seeing that its interests coincided with those of Bosnian Croats and Muslims. Only later did Croatian and U.S. interests diverge. Since Dayton, U.S. focus in Croatia has been on democratization, human rights, and the implementation of the accords. As U.S. Balkan policy evolved, seeing a stable European future for the region became a fundamental security interest of the United States. The Balkan Wars contributed significantly to changing perceptions of the transatlantic relationship and of the U.S. global role.     

The production of trans illegality: Cisnormativity in the U.S. immigration system

Drawing from critical scholarship on immigrant illegality and transgender studies, this paper examines how trans immigrants may be more prone to vulnerabilities in the U.S. immigration system. Cisnormativity, a hierarchical system of power that structures legal, administrative, and policing systems, produces the “hypervisibility” of gender variance. We add to migration scholarship by analyzing how cisnormativity can intersect with the production of immigrant illegalities and can render trans immigrants as hypervisible and, where possible, attend to the ways in which, paradoxically, trans subjectivity is also erased. Trans immigrants can be more susceptible to arrest, criminal prosecution, detention, deportation, blocked paths to citizenship, or adjustment of status. With trans studies' insights on the criminalization of gender variance and administrative documentation, we investigate the particularities of visibility for trans immigrants as they inform legalities and social exclusions. We end with a call for more empirical research on the experiences of trans immigrants and the complex inclusions and exclusions that structure U.S. immigration policy.     

Talk: Managing Large Community Sector Organisations in the 1980s and 1990s

Abstract

The community sector is a major provider of human services in Australia. It is comprised of community or private not-for-profit organisations, but is not the only industry sector where this class of organisation is found. Like an industry sector, the community sector contains some large and many small organisations. During the 1980s large community sector organisations consciously sought to improve their management and performance in a number of ways. Nonetheless their managers face further challenges in the 1990s, some of which will tempt them into competition with the more numerous small organisations in the sector.     

Changing U.S. immigration law and the occupational selectivity of Asian immigrants

This study explored the relationship between US immigration laws and their impact on the immigration of Asian professionals. The article relied on a 1996 Population Association presentation. Data were obtained from the US Immigration and Naturalization Service on legally admitted immigrants to the US. The authors describe the paths to admission, trends in immigration of professionals during 1972-94, and the Immigration Act of 1965 and its 4 amendments. Standardization-decomposition techniques are used to explain the relative differences in professional immigration across 1972-77, 1978-91, and 1992-94. The crude professional rate for all Asians declined by 19% during 1972-91. 62% of the decline was due to changes in the class of admission composition, and 25% was due to a decline in the class-specific professional rates. During 1992-94, the Asian crude professional rate increased 7%, most of which was due to changes in class composition, with the exception of Korean rates. Only the Vietnamese experienced a decline in rates. The 1965 law allowed for equity between countries in admission. The paths of immigration were family ties, job skills, or refugee status. During 1972-77, Chinese took advantage of family reunification, and Indians entered on employment preferences. The legal changes affected the size and share of each class of admission. The revisions indirectly affected the occupational selectivity of immigrant groups. 27% of the flow of Asians during 1972-77 was accounted for by employment preferences. Professionals were 44% of Asian immigrants during 1972-77, 26% during 1978-91, and 33% during 1992-94.     

Unemployment,immigration, and NAFTA: a panel study of ten major U.S. industries

We conduct a pooled cross-section and time-series analysis of the unemployment rates across ten major industries in the U.S. from 1983 to 1994 to assess the effect of NAFTA and immigration. Our results indicate that the output produced by the industry, unemployment benefit coverage, and interest rates are significant determinants of industry unemployment rates, but union presence does not affect industry unemployment. Both Canadian and Mexican immigrants appear to be complements to the U.S. labor force, with Canadian immigrants highly complementary to American labor. Finally, the Chow test provides no evidence that NAFTA has changed the structure of unemployment determination in these industries. We are indebted to Emily Hoffman and Matthew Higgins for their comments and suggestions. The usual disclaimer applies.     

Today's second generation: evidence from the 1990 U.S. census

"The prospects for today's second generation will be considerably shaped by their current social, economic and demographic status. This article provides a statistical portrait of children of immigrants by analyzing data from the 1990 U.S. Census of Population and Housing. With the second generation defined as children under age 18 with at least one foreign-born parent, the study describes place of residence; household demographic, social and economic circumstances; household head's socioeconomic status; and characteristics of children themselves. Data on second-generation children are broken down by year of immigration of parents and child's nativity. Data for children with native-born parents are provided for comparison."     

SAME-GENDER SEX AMONG U.S. ADULTS: TRENDS ACROSS THE TWENTIETH CENTURY AND DURING THE 1990s

Trends in reporting of same-gender sex are assessed using datafrom the 1998–2002 General Social Surveys (Ns = 9,487males and 12,336 females). Analyses indicate that the reportedprevalence of female-female sexual contact increased substantiallyand monotonically across twentieth-century birth cohorts, risingfrom 1.6 percent (Standard error [SE] = 0.60) for the cohortof U.S. women born prior to 1920 to 6.9 percent (SE = 0.81)for women born in 1970 and afterward. Increases in the reportedprevalence of female-female contacts also occurred within the1990s. These trends persist when statistical controls are introducedfor changes in attitudes toward same-gender sexual behavior.No parallel trend is observed in the reporting of male-malesexual contacts during adulthood, although the proportion ofU.S. men reporting such contacts in the past year and in thepast five years increased during the 1990s.     

The formation of a socioeconomic health disparity: the case of cocaine use during the 1980s and 1990s

Despite the substantial and prolonged sociological interest in health disparities, much remains unknown about the processes that initiate them. To investigate this topic, we focus on the case study of cocaine use, for which a socioeconomic disparity emerged across all age groups in a short period of time around 1990. We examine whether the newly-formed disparity represents a selective remnant of previous users or, instead, a selective recruitment of new users. To evaluate these two potential processes we use latent class regression on a nationally representative cohort with repeated measures of past-year cocaine use before and after 1990. Results support the "remnant" hypothesis and show that the newly-formed disparity resulted primarily because people in the lower social strata were less likely to have a trajectory of cocaine use with a sharp drop in use after 1990. These results point to the "remnant" concept as a way to bring together disparity analysis of very different and diverse health outcomes.     

Federalism and aging policy in the 1980s: implications for changing interest group roles in the 1990s

Shifts in the American political landscape during the 1980s had impacts on aging policy and on the behavior of aging interest groups through that decade. But perhaps even more important are the likely effects of those changes on aging policy and on the roles of age-related groups in the 1990s--and probably beyond. First, some of the major policy trends of the 1980s are sketched out, especially the renewed emphasis on federalism. Then, an assessment of their effects on aging policy and aging interest groups is provided. Next, a rationale for focusing on state-level policy and a discussion of current aging interest-group mobilization at the state level are presented. Last, the prospects for aging interest-group influence in the 1990s--a period in which the prior decade's emphasis on dual federalism is likely to continue--is addressed.     

The Evolution of Skill-Biased Effects on American Wages in the 1980s and 1990s

This study estimates the contributions of skill-biased technological change and international trade to the rise in the skill premium during the 1980s and 90s using the Feenstra and Hanson (Q J Econ 114(3):907–940, 1999) two-stage methodology. Newly available data on high-technology capital provide separate measures of computer and software investment. New estimates suggest that investment in software contributed to a substantial portion of the observed increase in the skill premium while investment in computers lead to a reduction in the rate of skill premium growth. Contrary to the findings of Feenstra and Hanson for the 1980s, neither software nor computers had a significant effect on wages during the 1980s. Foreign outsourcing does not appear to have significantly affected wages during the 1990s. The contribution to theory is that software is more complementary to increases in worker productivity due to human skills. Computers, on the other hand, reduced the growth of wage inequality by giving unskilled labor a more efficient set of tools with which to work.

AFTER TAFT-HARTLEY: The Legal-Institutional Context of U.S. Strike Activity, 1948 to 1980

This article examines how the legal-institutional context created by American labor law has impacted the frequency, issue composition, and economic damage of strike activity since the passage of the Taft-Hartley Act. Emphasis on the legal-institutional context complements conventional perspectives of strike activity which focus on business cycle and political-organizational interpretations. A new labor law index is developed to measure the legal-institutional context, and it is comprised of five components: number of pro-labor laws, National Labor Relations Board unfair labor cases filed, use of antilabor injunctions, labor mediation, and labor arbitration. For the period of 1948 to 1980, high values on the labor law index reduced overall strike frequency, reduced some types of control-related strikes, had no effect on economic strikes, and decreased working time lost to strikes, especially in the monopoly sector. These findings suggest that the legal-institutional context of the post-Taft-Hartley period has served to regulate and delegitimize expressions of labor unrest that most seriously challenge capitalist interests.     

The Role of Corporations in the 1980 U.S. Congressional Elections*

The issues of whether and how corporate campaign donations affect the operation of American elections have recently become the focus of public and scholarly debate. Using Federal Election Commission campaign finance data, this analysis identifies a link betwren contributions from business PACs and candidate success in the 1980 U.S. congressional elections. Findings also confirm an association between corporate support and legislative voting for candidates re-elected in 1980. Candidates heavily supported by business PACs during the campaign did better at the polls and were more likely to vote conservatively if elected than those not so strongly endorsed by economic interests. Results are discussed in terms of various theories of the state as well as their relevance to potential election finance reforms.     

U.K. statistics on immigration: development and limitations

This article discusses the data on international migration to the UK, their limitations, and their origins. No 1 source gives a demographically satisfactory account of net migration, and different sources of data are not compatible with each other. Their present form can only be understood in the context of a reluctant acceptance, in the face of domestic political pressure, of the need to impose the same controls on the entry of Commonwealth citizens from 1962-1971 as had been imposed on the entry of aliens since 1920. Coleman asserts that UK migration statistics suffer 1 major omission and several systematic deficiencies. The omission is the absence of any information, either from the International Passenger Survey (IPS) or from the Home Office, on gross or net migration flows to the UK from the Republic of Ireland. Neither the IPS nor the Home Office data provide a very satisfactory form of measurement of other migration streams. Neither has much time depth, the former not existing before 1963, the latter being affected by changes in rules and procedures. As a voluntary sample with only relatively few interviews per year on intended migrants, the IPS can only provide a crude overall estimate of the general demographic import of migration flows, incapable for statistical reasons of any refined sub-division or analysis, and prove both to error and bias. The Home Office statistics do not treat immigration in a demographically useful way. They measure flows only in 1 direction, provide no demographic or socioeconomic characteristics on those accepted for settlement, and are not compatible with the IPS in most ways. For political reasons, no action to resolve the Irish anomaly is likely, especially when the trend is for less, not more, control and counting on the entry of European Community citizens.     

Enjoyment of Work by Full-Time Workers in the U.S., 1955 and 1980

Two questions concerning enjoyment of work asked on a 1955 AmericanGallup Poll were asked on a 1980 United States national surveyto gauge the net change during a quarter of a century. Onlythe responses of persons employed full-time were used for thisstudy. Indicated enjoyment of work was substantially lower in1980 than in 1955. The difference was especially great for manualworkers, Protestants, and older persons. A tentative conclusiondrawn from examining trend data for one birth cohort is thatthe change resulted from cohort succession and from orientationsand attitudes members of younger cohorts brought to their workrather than from changes in work conditions which affected workersof all ages and in all birth cohorts. Some implications of thefindings are disscussed.     

The immigration of Asian professionals to the United States: 1988-1990

"This article examines recent flows of Asian professionals to the United States based on the Immigration and Naturalization Service data for the fiscal years 1988-1990. Three specific dimensions of the Asian migration stream were investigated, namely, size, composition and mode of entry. The results show that Asians emerge as a dominant group in the immigration of all professionals. An examination of mode of entry indicates an existing demand for foreign professionals of certain occupational backgrounds in the U.S. labor market.... The argument that the outflow of the highly trained Asians is simply a matter of migration and education is not fully supported by the data."     

Sexology in the U.S.:

No abstract available for this article.