Suchergebnisse

Beginning in 1987, Peru imposed a regime of structural adjustment to transform its economy along neoliberal lines. This analysis suggests that a shift resulted in the odds of international migration and the motivations for leaving among inhabitants of Peru's largest labor market. Before 1987, under the regime of import substitution industrialization, jobs at wages capable of sustaining a basic standard of living were widely available; those few who left the country self-selected for higher human capital and moved abroad to improve their earnings. Under neoliberalism, however, both employment and wages fell to levels that made it difficult for families to sustain themselves. In response, households—with the assistance of friends and relatives with foreign experience—diversified their labor portfolios away from the local job market structural adjustment zones. The number of migrants then rose, the diversity of foreign destinations increased, and migration became less selective with respect to human capital.

Beginning in 1987, Peru imposed a regime of structural adjustment to transform its economy along neoliberal lines. This analysis suggests that a shift resulted in the odds of international migration and the motivations for leaving among inhabitants of Peru's largest labor market. Before 1987, under the regime of import substitution industrialization, jobs at wages capable of sustaining a basic standard of living were widely available; those few who left the country self-selected for higher human capital and moved abroad to improve their earnings. Under neoliberalism, however, both employment and wages fell to levels that made it difficult for families to sustain themselves. In response, householdsawith the assistance of friends and relatives with foreign experienceadiversified their labor portfolios away from the local job market structural adjustment zones. The number of migrants then rose, the diversity of foreign destinations increased, and migration became less selective with respect to human capital. Tables, Figures, References. [Reprinted by permission of Sage Publications Inc., copyright 2006 The American Academy of Political and Social Science.]

This article reviews standard sources of demographic data-censuses, intercensal surveys, registration systems, and specialized surveys and describes their inability to provide accurate data on immigrants, particularly those without documents. We discern a need for data that can identify undocumented migrants and their characteristics, measure trends over time, support longitudinal research, compare the characteristics of migrants before and after they enter, provide sufficient sample sizes for detailed analyses, study transitions between different legal statuses and movements back and forth, and monitor the effects of policy changes on a timely basis. We suggest that the ethnosurvey design satisfies these criteria. We describe the theory, structure, and organization of the ethnosurvey and then describe its application in the Mexican Migration Project. We then highlight its application in other locations around the world and outline an agenda for future comparative research.

An analysis of the changing geography of Mexican immigration to the US focuses on four periods: the classic era of open immigration (1900-1920); the Bracero era (1942-1964); the undocumented era (1964-1986); & the post-Immigration Reform & Control Act of 1986 (IRCA) era (1987-present). Data were obtained from Integrated Public Use Microdata Samples of individual records from US censuses of 1900-1920 & 1940-1990, & the March supplement of the 2000 Current Population Survey. Mexican immigration was strongly oriented towards Texas until 1920 when destinations shifted toward California &, to a lesser extent, Chicago. The Great Depression brought immigration to a standstill until the temporary worker Bracero program was instituted in 1942. By 1960, 42 percent of all Mexican immigrants lived in California, 36 percent in Texas, & 6 percent in Illinois or Indiana. California dominated as the preeminent destination during the undocumented era; however, strict enforcement provisions of the IRCA, coupled with a recession in California, transformed Mexican immigration into a nationwide movement that transfigured the political landscape of both countries. Tables, References. J. Lindroth