New Destination Labor Markets: The Effects of Metropolitan Labor Markets on the Changing Geography of Immigrant Settlement

Chris Galvan, University at Albany, State University of New York (SUNY)

This paper aims to further our understanding of the spatially dispersed foreign-born population growth in metropolitan areas over the last thirty years. The existing literature offers no systematic study of the factors contributing to the growth of these new immigrant destinations. This paper addresses the gap in the literature by analyzing the relationship between foreign-born population growth and local labor markets. Using data from the Census Bureau and 2005-2009 American Community Survey 5-year estimates, I examine metropolitan population change from 1990 to 2009 by presenting a series of bivariate thematic maps illustrating foreign-born population and industrial fluctuations in metropolitan areas across the U.S, and modeling metro-level change in foreign-born population as an outcome of the economy of place and labor markets. Preliminary bivariate analyses and multilevel models suggest that sizable low-skilled industries and weak local economies are associated with eventual foreign-born population growth.