Latino immigrants. - Latino Workers in the Contemporary South - book review

Monthly Labor Review, Feb, 2002 by Katie Kirkland

Latino Workers in the Contemporary South. Edited by Arthur D. Murphy, Colleen Blanchard, and Jennifer A. Hill. Athens, GA, University of Georgia Press. Southern Anthropological Society, 2001, 139 pp. $20, softcover; $40, cloth.

Latino Workers in the Contemporary South is a collection of essays concerning the recent influx of Latino immigrants in the southeastern region of the United States. The authors explain the trajectory of immigrants in the United States and how their destinations are no longer limited to traditional places like metropolitan areas. The essays focus on rural communities in Georgia, North Carolina, and Florida, where immigrant populations have been growing rapidly.

The text holds interesting discussions of Latino immigrant experiences (primarily Mexican), including their families being more inclined to immigrate as the Mexican economy worsens, their diaspora, language barriers, and economic hardships.

Official data are used to document immigrants' increasingly stable presence in the South. The authors use data from the U.S. Census Bureau, the Immigration and Naturalization Service, and other sources such as public school enrollment records.

In light of the fact that limited amounts of official data are available, the authors supplement these data with findings from their own surveys to discuss immigrants living in smaller geographic areas. Although their survey samples are small, they state their methodologies upfront, and the surveys shed light on the phenomenon of immigrants' increasing presence in the South. The authors use their findings to study the undercount of immigrants in official data, reasons for immigrant influx in the South, and their "settling out" of agriculture.

Possible contributors to the undercount of immigrants in official estimates are explained--the trajectory of immigrants, their moving around the country to find seasonal employment, and border-crossing. The authors propose that temporary housing arrangements may also be a factor in the undercount. As in a survey case in South Florida, immigrants were found to be living in crowded, low-rent housing. Many lived in households with several adults, and nuclear families temporarily hosted newly arrived relatives.

The authors attribute the influx of Latino immigrants in the South to the region's rapid economic growth that has occurred in recent decades. Globalization and rising demand in the poultry industry have fueled the industry's growth in northern Georgia and provided resultant work opportunities there for immigrants. Ron Hetrick's June 1994 Monthly Labor Review article is used to document the strong job growth that has occurred in the poultry processing industry and to highlight the fact that the industry has hired more workers to meet increasing demands, because hiring more labor is relatively cheaper than making capital improvements.

The book describes two other examples to show how rapidly growing industries have brought immigrant labor to the South: high economic volatility requires southern Louisiana's onshore oil industry to obtain low-skilled peripheral labor, and Dalton, home of Georgia's high-growth carpet industry, needs immigrants to fill positions native residents cannot in a tight labor market. Employers of semi-skilled workers, such as construction and landscaping businesses, also provide work opportunities to immigrants in the South.

The authors explain that industries' heightened demands for cheap, unskilled labor have drawn immigrants to rural southern areas like those of northern Georgia. Using population estimates from the 1990 and 2000 decennial censuses, one can verify that the Hispanic population in northern Georgia's poultry-processing region has grown. Decennial census data show that in 2000 the Hispanic population in Forsyth County, Georgia, was more than eight times what it was in 1990. In neighboring Hall County, the Hispanic population in 2000 was about six times as large as it was in 1990.

Another trend examined is immigrants "settling out" of agriculture to find more permanent, year-round employment to support their families (who have been more inclined to immigrate as Mexico's economy has weakened). In addition to their most frequently cited needs--employment, healthcare, and housing--immigrants report that learning English is the key factor in overcoming other hardships they face when they "settle out." Immigrant parents regard education as the key to their children's better future.

It seems that the authors present evidence of immigrants' increasingly stable presence in the South for a purpose--because of the undercount of immigrants, we are unable to attend to their needs.

Another concern is that U.S. immigration laws have not prevented illegal immigration but have instead affected the price and condition of immigrant labor. For instance, some U.S. employers recruit illegal workers who are willing to forgo legal amenities.

In a comparative essay on illegal Latino immigrants in the U.S. South and Germany's "guest workers," the authors suggest that a German-like guest-worker program in the United States might stem illegal immigration. They propose that countries that import labor or export workers develop viable and fair policies on international labor immigration--because with globalization, immigration should continue.