Multiethnic Labor Markets and Socioeconomic Mobility: A Career Trajectory Perspective

In the United States, high rates of immigration have once again raised important questions concerning the effect of ethnic diversity on patterns of socioeconomic mobility and levels of inequality between racial and ethnic groups. However, despite the potential effect of immigration and ethnic diversity on racial and ethnic stratification within multiethnic societies, research has yet to provide an examination of the impact of these factors on patterns of social mobility over the life course. While prior research focuses extensively on metropolitan area characteristics related to contemporaneous race and ethnic labor market disparities, the primary contribution of this research is to examine the multiethnic aspects of communities that affect the career trajectories of American workers. Applying cross-classified multilevel growth curve models to data from the 1979 National Longitudinal Survey of Youth and U.S. Census Bureau, this research provides a comprehensive assessment of the social forces causing differential patterns of intragenerational socioeconomic mobility among race, ethnic, and gender groups in the contemporary era of mass immigration.