Following the Job Trail

Do immigrants push out native workers? At first glance, a study by Geography Professor Richard Barff makes it look that way. Using census data from 1970 and 1980, he found that for every seven immigrants moving to a particular city, one native blue-collar worker ends up moving somewhere else.

But do not be fooled by the data. Barff—himself an immigrant from England who came to Dartmouth in 1985—explains that the statistics reflect a hugely complicated sea change of employment in urban areas. Work that used to be concentrated in large factories is now spread around to subcontractors. Native workers tend to move to where the more lucrative jobs are. And immigrants come in to take up the slack.

In fact, immigration actually accounts for an increase in certain jobs: white-collar workers are needed to provide public services like health care and education to the immigrant population.

Are these labor trends continuing in the 19905? Barff intends to find out. The National Science Foundation recently funded him and a UCLA coinvestigator to carry out new studies on 26 of the nation's largest metropolitan areas, with special attention to three of the country's prime immigrant centers: Miami, Los Angeles, and New York. The two researchers intend to follow natives moving from those areas in search of work.

"This is what God wouldhave built if He hadmoney."—Trustee Chairman JohnRosenwald "52 speakingat the Collis Centerdedication as quoted byThe Dartmouth.