Temporal differentiation in the occupational mobility of immigrant and native-born Latina workers

We estimate changes over time in the occupational participation of latina workers. Applying a "double cohort" method for longitudinal analysis with census data, we clarify the effects of economic restructuring and economic assimilation. We investigate multiple temporal effects: immigration cohort, birth cohort, age at migration, duration in the United States, and advancing age. The analysis compares Latinas in southern California who are employed in low-wage factory jobs,vith Latinas employed in better-paying office jobs. Results indicate sharp temporal differentiation among the Latina workers, even after controlling for human capital. The newest arrivals concentrate in the growing light-manufacturing sector and remain there, to a relative degree, across subsequent decades. Workers who immigrated as young children (referred to as the 1.5 generation) diverge from their parents and tend to be employed in office jobs-a pattern similar to young native-born Latinas. Within cohorts' careers, workers shift out of factors jobs, but there is little net shift into office work. instead cohort succession is the dominant factor in workers' adaptation to a changing economic structure.