![Sample our Urban Studies journals, sign in here to start your FREE access for 14 days]({"type":"image" , "src" : "/sda/110826/TOC-Subject-Sample-2021-Urban-Studies.jpg"})
Abstract
This paper examines how different groups fit into the Los Angeles economy. We systematically analyze change in the employment patterns in 20 different sectors for 1970, 1980, and 1990 for the three largest native-born ethnic groups (Whites, African Americans, and Hispanics) and the two largest foreign-born subpopulations (Hispanics and Asians). Given the size of the foreign-born population in Los Angeles and their concentration in low-wage jobs, we pay particular attention to shifts in the sectoral allocation of working immigrants and native-born Blacks and Hispanics. Our application of shift-share analysis to decompose employment change by sector by ethnic group reveals that in the expanding Los Angeles job market of the 1970s and 1980s, immigrants experienced major job gains-both relatively and absolutely. Native-born Whites gained absolutely in several sectors, but at a rate below that of growth in total employment, and thus became a proportionately smaller fraction of the work force. African Americans experienced complex labor-market outcomes. We show that the African American labor force grew faster than total regional employment in the 1970s, and that they held labor-market comparative advantage in several important sectors. In the 1980s, this position switched to one of comparative disadvantage throughout most of the economy as native Black employment grew more slowly than the region's total labor force. Native-born Hispanics also lost labor-market comparative advantage as their employment growth also dipped below the regional growth rate in the 1980s. The results suggest that both nativity and ethnicity are important elements in the intraurban division of labor in Los Angeles and that the articulation of these elements may be shifting in response to persistent immigration. These outcomes have relevance to the important debates on urban restructuring, the so-called urban underclass, and immigration policy.
