Runt Pigs Can Be Saved

Runt pigs have posed in hoglots ever since farmers started raising hogs. Runts occur even in the hoglots of our best managers. It\u27s been a problem on our swine experimental farms, too

Made in America? Immigrant Occupational Mobility in the First Half of the Twentieth Century

Assimilation research largely assumes that Southern and Eastern European immigrants achieved assimilation due to job ladders within manufacturing firms in the first half of the twentieth century. But this literature has never tested these claims and often acknowledges that little is known about whether Italians and Slavs experienced upward mobility. Did manufacturing allow for the upward advancement among European-origin groups? Using unique datasets containing employment histories in three manufacturing companies – A.M. Byers Company, Pullman-Standard Manufacturing, and Ford Motor Company - between 1900 and 1950, this article is the first to analyze occupational mobility within factories among European-origin groups. Results suggest that organizational structures within firms through the formation of internal labor markets did little to counter or prevent other forces that kept migrants from achieving upward mobility.  Migrants ended their careers within firms where they began – positions at the bottom of the occupational hierarchy – which runs contrary to assimilation research

Modes of incorporation: a conceptual and empirical critique

Entering the debate over segmented assimilation, this paper seeks to refocus discussion on a core, but neglected claim: that inter-group disparities among immigrant offspring derive from differences in a contextual feature shared by immigrant and immigrant descendants: a nationality’s mode of incorporation.  The paper engages in both theoretical and empirical assessment.  We critically examine the concept of mode of incorporation, demonstrating that its operational implications have not been correctly understood; consequently, the core hypothesis has never been appropriately tested.  The second part of the paper implements those tests, making use of the Children of Immigrants Longitudinal Survey.  We do so by using nationality as a proxy for mode of incorporation, systematically contrasting more advantaged against less advantaged nationalities.    We show: (a) that tests systematically varying modes classified as more or less advantageous yield inconsistent outcomes; (b) that positive or negative modes of incorporation are associated with few long-lasting effects; (c) that differences in governmental reception are particularly unlikely to be associated with interethnic disparities; and (d) that compared to theoretically relevant nationalities, neither Mexicans, a nationality assigned to a negative mode of incorporation, nor pre-Mariel Cubans, a nationality assigned to positive mode of incorporation, prove distinctive

The Citizenship Advantage: Immigrant Socioeconomic Attainment across Generations in the Age of Mass Migration

Scholars who study immigrant economic progress often point to the success of Southern and Eastern Europeans who entered in the early 20th century and draw inferences about whether today’s immigrants will follow a similar trajectory. However, little is known about the mechanisms that allowed for European upward advancement. This article begins to fill this gap by analyzing how naturalization policies influenced economic success of immigrants across generations. Specifically, I create new panel datasets that follow immigrants and their children across complete-count US censuses to understand the economic consequences of citizenship attainment. I find that naturalization raised occupational attainment for the first generation that then allowed children to have greater educational attainment and labor market success. I argue that economic progress was conditioned by political statuses for European-origin groups during the first half of the twentieth century – a mechanism previously missed by contemporary research

The Alien Citizen: Social Distance and the Economic Returns to Naturalization in the Southwest

Citizenship acquisition is often promoted as one factor that can facilitate the economic integration of immigrants. However, not all individuals and groups experience positive benefits to naturalization. This article argues that social distance from the native-born is an important factor that influences who does and does not benefit from citizenship acquisition. Specifically, I create a new continuous measure of social distance for immigrants during the age of mass migration. I show that the relationship between social distance and the economic returns to citizenship takes an inverted U-shape. Those considered closest and furthest away in social distance to the native-born report little to no advantages to citizenship while those in the middle report larger returns. I then focus on the Mexican population in the historical southwest and take advantage of a unique enumeration in the complete count 1930 US census that coded Mexicans as either white or Mexican. Mexicans coded as white report economic differences between citizenship statuses while Mexicans coded as nonwhite report no difference between citizenship statuses. The results suggest citizenship may not be beneficial to all individuals and groups depending on where they fall in the ethnoracial hierarchy

Immigrant Unionization through the Great Recession

Previous research finds that in recent years immigrants had a higher propensity to unionize than native-born workers. However, there is little research that shows historically marginalized immigrant workers are able to maintain newly acquired union jobs, especially during times unfavorable to unionization more generally. Therefore, this paper focuses on immigrant unionization during the Great Recession of 2008 to determine whether the inroads that immigrants have made through organizing are maintained in hostile union environments. Using the Current Population Survey (CPS), I extend Rosenfeld and Kleykamp’s (2009) models for Hispanic unionization (which end in 2007) through the recent downturn and beyond. I find that Hispanic immigrants, who hold higher odds of union entry or membership in Rosenfeld and Kleykamp’s prerecession analysis, lost union jobs at an increased rate during the Great Recession compared with white native-born workers. These effects for Hispanic immigrants filter throughout various subcategories and control variables that include years since entry, citizenship status, and nationality. These results are likely not the result of unfavorable labor market allocation of immigrants, and to some degree undercut the hopes of those who view immigrants as the key to organized labor’s future and organized labor as the key to immigrant prosperity

¡NO SE PUEDE!: THE DECLINE OF IMMIGRANT UNIONIZATION THROUGH THE GREAT RECESSION OF 2008

Prior research finds that in recent years immigrants had a higher propensity to unionize than native-born workers. Such research buttresses the hopes of both working class Hispanics, who view unions as a potential avenue to upward mobility, and union supporters who view immigrants as a potential source of union revival. However, there is little research that shows historically marginalized immigrant workers are able to maintain newly acquired union jobs, especially during times unfavorable to unionization more generally. Therefore, this paper focuses on immigrant unionization during the Great Recession of 2008 to determine whether the inroads that immigrants have made through organizing are maintained in hostile union environments. Using the Current Population Survey (CPS), I extend Rosenfeld and Kleykamps (2009) models for Hispanic unionization (which end in 2007) through the recent downturn and beyond. I find that Hispanic immigrants, who hold higher odds of union entry or membership in Rosenfeld and Kleykamp\u27s prerecession analysis, lost union jobs at an increased rate during the Great Recession compared with white native-born workers. These effects for Hispanic immigrants filter throughout various subcategories and control variables that include years since entry, citizenship status, and nationality. These results are likely not the result of unfavorable labor market allocation of immigrants, and to some degree undercut the hopes of those who view immigrants as the key to organized labor\u27s future and organized labor as the key to immigrant prosperity

Made in America? Immigrant Occupational Mobility in the First Half of the Twentieth Century

Assimilation research largely assumes that Southern and Eastern European immigrants achieved assimilation due to job ladders within manufacturing firms in the first half of the twentieth century. But this literature has never tested these claims and often acknowledges that little is known about whether Italians and Slavs experienced upward mobility. Did manufacturing allow for the upward advancement among European-origin groups? Using unique datasets containing employment histories in three manufacturing companies – A.M. Byers Company, Pullman-Standard Manufacturing, and Ford Motor Company - between 1900 and 1950, this article is the first to analyze occupational mobility within factories among European-origin groups. Results suggest that organizational structures within firms through the formation of internal labor markets did little to counter or prevent other forces that kept migrants from achieving upward mobility.  Migrants ended their careers within firms where they began – positions at the bottom of the occupational hierarchy – which runs contrary to assimilation research

Made in America? Immigrant Occupational Mobility in First Half of the Twentieth Century

Assimilation research largely assumes that Southern and Eastern European immigrants achieved assimilation due to job ladders within manufacturing firms in the first half of the twentieth century. But this literature has never tested these claims and often acknowledges that little is known about whether Italians and Slavs experienced upward mobility. Did manufacturing allow for the upward advancement among European-origin groups? Using unique datasets containing employment histories in three manufacturing companies – A.M. Byers Company, Pullman-Standard Manufacturing, and Ford Motor Company - between 1900 and 1950, this article is the first to analyze occupational mobility within factories among European-origin groups. Results suggest that organizational structures within firms through the formation of internal labor markets did little to counter or prevent other forces that kept migrants from achieving upward mobility. Migrants ended their careers within firms where they began – positions at the bottom of the occupational hierarchy – which runs contrary to assimilation research

Immigrant Unionization through the Great Recession

Previous research finds that in recent years immigrants had a higher propensity to unionize than native-born workers. However, there is little research that shows historically marginalized immigrant workers are able to maintain newly acquired union jobs, especially during times unfavorable to unionization more generally. Therefore, this paper focuses on immigrant unionization during the Great Recession of 2008 to determine whether the inroads that immigrants have made through organizing are maintained in hostile union environments. Using the Current Population Survey (CPS), I extend Rosenfeld and Kleykamp’s (2009) models for Hispanic unionization (which end in 2007) through the recent downturn and beyond. I find that Hispanic immigrants, who hold higher odds of union entry or membership in Rosenfeld and Kleykamp’s prerecession analysis, lost union jobs at an increased rate during the Great Recession compared with white native-born workers. These effects for Hispanic immigrants filter throughout various subcategories and control variables that include years since entry, citizenship status, and nationality. These results are likely not the result of unfavorable labor market allocation of immigrants, and to some degree undercut the hopes of those who view immigrants as the key to organized labor’s future and organized labor as the key to immigrant prosperity