Abstract
Social scientists assert that the growth and redistribution of the Hispanic population has altered local racial and economic dynamics in the United States. Yet, comparably little work tests this perspective. We develop hypotheses based on two key sets of theories—the shifting racial/ethnic color line and (im)migrant incorporation into labor markets—to guide our analysis of the relationship between changing Hispanic population concentration and changes in black–white economic inequality. Our first-differenced analysis draws on county-level data from the 1990 and 2000 decennial Census, the US Department of Agriculture, and CQ Press Voting and Elections Collection. In addition to assessing black–white disparities in income, poverty, and unemployment, we test whether the relationship of interest is more or less pronounced in new destinations. When shifts in Hispanic concentration are associated with changes in black and white economic outcomes, we find improved outcomes for blacks (e.g., lower unemployment and poverty rates) but modestly diminished outcomes for whites. There is some evidence that these patterns result in declining black–white inequality in both new and established destinations; however, the declines are small and exclusive to unemployment and poverty outcomes. Results ultimately suggest limited structural changes as they relate to black–white economic inequality during this period.
Similar content being viewed by others
Notes
The CQ Press Voting and Elections Collection data were accessed here: http://library.cqpress.com/elections/. Rural–Urban continuum codes were retrieved from here: https://www.ers.usda.gov/data-products/rural–urban-continuum-codes/.
Broomfield, CO—a city located in Boulder County, CO in 1990 – became a separate county in 1998; Yellowstone National Park, MT was reported separately in 1990 but was combined with Gallatin County, MT in 1997; and Takoma Park city, MD was previously part of Prince George County, MD but was associated with Montgomery County, MD in 2000.
We adjust median income in 1990 to reflect 2000 dollars.
References
Abascal, M. (2015). Us and them: Black–white relations in the wake of hispanic population growth. American Sociological Review,80(4), 789–813.
Adelman, R. M., & Tsao, H.-S. (2016). Deep South demography: New immigrants and racial hierarchies. Sociological Spectrum,36(6), 337–358.
Alba, R. (2009). Blurring the color line: The new chance for a more integrated America. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Alba, R., & Nee, V. (2003). Remaking the American mainstream: Assimilation and contemporary immigration. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Press.
Ayers, J. W., Hofstetter, C. R., Schnakenberg, K., & Kolody, B. (2009). Is immigration a racial issue? Anglo attitudes on immigration policies in a border County. Social Science Quarterly,90(3), 593–610.
Bazil, N. (2017). Spatial variation in the hispanic paradox: Mortality rates in new and established hispanic US destinations. Population, Space, and Place,23(1), 1–17.
Bonilla-Silva, E. (2004). From bi-racial to tri-racial: Towards a new system of racial stratification in the USA. Ethnic and Racial Studies,27(6), 931–950.
Borjas, G. J. (1987). Immigrants, minorities, and labor market competition. Industrial and Labor Relations Review,40(3), 382–392.
Borjas, G. J. (2002). Welfare reform and immigrant participation in welfare programs. International Migration Review, 36(4), 1093–1123.
Borjas, G. J. (2003). The labor demand curve is downward sloping: Re-examining the impact of immigration on the labor market. Quarterly Journal of Economics,118(4), 1335–1374.
Card, D. (1990). The impact of the mariel boatlift on the Miami labor market. Industrial and Labor Relations Review,40(2), 245–257.
Card, D. (2005). Is the new immigration really so bad? Economic Journal,115(507), F300–F323.
Clotfelter, C. T., Ladd, H. F., & Vigdor, J. L. (2012). New destinations, new trajectories? The educational progress of hispanic youth in North Carolina. Child Development,83(5), 1608–1622.
Crowder, K., & Downey, L. (2010). Interneighborhood migration, race, and environmental hazards: Modeling microlevel processes of environmental inequality. American Journal of Sociology,115(4), 1110–1149.
Crowley, M., & Lichter, D. T. (2009). Social disorganization in new latino destinations? Rural Sociology,74(4), 573–604.
Crowley, M., Lichter, D. T., & Turner, R. N. (2015). Diverging fortunes? Economic well-being of latinos and African Americans in new rural destinations. Social Science Research,51(1), 77–92.
Curtis, K. J. (2018). U.S. return migration and the decline in southern black disadvantage, 1970–2000. Social Science Quarterly,99(3), 1214–1232.
Donato, K. M., Tolbert, C. M., Nucci, A., & Kawano, Y. (2007). Recent immigrant settlement in the nonmetropolitan United States: Evidence form internal census data. Rural Sociology,72(4), 537–559.
Donato, K. M., Tolbert, C. M., Nucci, A., & Kawano, Y. (2010). Changing faces, changing places: The emergence of new nonmetropolitan immigrant gateways. In D. S. Massey (Ed.), New faces in new places: The changing geography of American immigration (pp. 75–98). New York: Russell Sage Foundation.
Dondero, M., & Muller, C. (2012). school stratification in new and established latino destinations. Social Forces,91(2), 477–502.
Dustmann, C., Frattini, T., & Preston, I. P. (2013). The effect of immigration along the distribution of wages. Review of Economic Studies,80, 145–173.
Fennelly, K. (2008). Prejudice toward immigrants in the Midwest. In D. S. Massey (Ed.), New faces in new places: The changing geography of American immigration (pp. 151–178). New York: Russell Sage Foundation.
Fetzer, J. S. (2006). Why did house members vote for H.R. 4437? International Migration Review, 40(3), 698–706.
Flippen, C. A., & Parrado, E. A. (2015). Perceived discrimination among latino immigrants in new destinations: The Case of Durham, North Carolina. Sociological Perspectives,58(4), 666–685.
Flores, R. J. O., & Lobo, A. P. (2012). The reassertion of a black/non-black color line: The rise in integrated neighborhoods without blacks in New York City, 1970–2010. Journal of Urban Affairs,35(3), 255–282.
Frey, W. H., Liaw, K.-L., Xie, Y., & Carlson, M. J. (1996). Interstate migration of the US poverty population: Immigration “pushes” and welfare magnet “pulls”. Population and Environment, 17(6), 491–533.
Greogry, J. N. (2005). The Southern diaspora: How the great migrations of black and white Southerners transformed America. Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press.
Hodge, R. W. (1973). Toward a Theory of racial differences in employment. Social Forces,52(1), 16–31.
Hooghe, M., & Dassonneville, R. (2018). Explaining the Trump vote: The effect of racist resentment and anti-immigrant sentiments. PS. Political Science & Politics, 51(3), 528–534.
Huddy, L., & Virtanen, S. (1995). Subgroup differentiation and subgroup bias among Latinos as a function of familiarity and positive distinctiveness. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology,68(1), 97–108.
Huffman, M. L., & Cohen, P. N. (2004). Racial wage Inequality: Job segregation and devaluation across US labor markets. American Journal of Sociology,109(4), 902–936.
Iceland, J. (2004). Beyond black and white: Metropolitan residential segregation in multi-ethnic America. Social Science Research,33, 248–271.
Jiménez, T. R. (2008). Mexican immigrant replenishment and the continuing significance of ethnicity and race. American Journal of Sociology, 113(6), 1527–1567.
Johnson, K. M., & Lichter, D. T. (2008). Natural increase: A new source of population growth in emerging hispanic destinations in the United States. Population and Development Review,34, 327–346.
Kandel, W., & Cromartie, J. (2004). New patterns of hispanic settlement in Rural America. Rural Development Research Report 99, Economic Research Service, USDA.
Kornrich, S. (2009). Combining preferences and processes: An integrated approach to black–white labor market inequality. American Journal of Sociology,115(1), 1–38.
Kritz, M. M., Gurak, D. T., & Lee, M.-A. (2011). Will they stay? Foreign-born out-migration from new U.S. destinations. Population Research and Policy Review,30(4), 537–567.
Lamont, M., & Molnár, V. (2002). The study of boundaries in the social sciences. Annual Review of Sociology,28(1), 167–195.
Lamont, M., Silva, G. M., Welburn, J., Guetzkow, J., Mizrachi, N., Herzog, H., et al. (2016). Getting respect: Responding to stigma and discrimination in the United States, Brazil, and Israel. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
Lee, J., & Bean, F. D. (2010). The diversity paradox: immigration and the color line in twenty-first century America. New York: Russell Sage Foundation.
Lichter, D. T., & Johnson, K. M. (2006). Emerging rural settlement patterns and the geographic redistribution of America’s new immigrants. Rural Sociology,71(1), 109–131.
Lichter, D. T., & Johnson, K. M. (2009). Immigrant gateways and hispanic migration to new destinations. International Migration Review,43(3), 496–518.
Lieberson, S. (1980). A piece of the pie: Blacks and white immigrants since 1880. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.
Liu, C. Y. (2013). Latino Immigration and the low-skill urban labor market: The case of Atlanta. Social Science Quarterly,94(1), 131–157.
Logan, J. L., & Zhang, C. (2010). Global neighborhoods: New pathways to diversity and separation. American Journal of Sociology,115(4), 1069–1109.
Marrow, H. B. (2009). New immigrant destinations and the American colour line. Ethnic and Racial Studies,32(6), 1037–1057.
McCall, L. (2001). Sources of racial wage inequality in metropolitan labor markets: Racial, ethnic, and gender differences. American Sociological Review,66(4), 520–541.
Monnat, S. M. (2017). Insurance coverage rates in metropolitan and nonmetropolitan new and established destinations. Rural Sociology,82(1), 3–43.
Mora, G. C. (2014). Making hispanics: How activists, bureaucrats, and media constructed a new American. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
O’Connell, H. A. (2019). Historical shadows: The links between sundown towns and contemporary black–white inequality. Sociology of Race and Ethnicity,5(3), 311–325.
O’Connell, H. A., & Shoff, C. (2014). Spatial variation in the relationship between hispanic concentration and county poverty: A migration perspective. Spatial. Demography, 2(1), 30–54.
O’Neil, K., & Tienda, M. (2010). A tale of two counties: Natives’ opinions toward immigration in North Carolina. International Migration Review,44(3), 728–761.
Orrenius, P., & Madeline, Z. (2006). Does immigration affect wages? A look at occupation-level evidence. IZA Discussion Papers, No. 2481, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA).
Ottaviano, G. I. P., & Peri, G. (2012). Rethinking the effect of immigration on wages. Journal of the European Economic Association,10(1), 152–197.
Park, J., & John, I. (2011). Residential segregation in metropolitan established immigrant gateways and new destinations, 1990–2000. Social Science Research, 40(3), 811–821.
Parisi, D., Lichter, D. T., & Taquino, M. C. (2011). Multi-scale residential segregation: black exceptionalism and America’s changing color line. Social Forces,89(3), 829–852.
Parisi, D., Lichter, D. T., & Taquino, M. C. (2015). The buffering hypothesis: Growing diversity and declining black–white segregation in American’s cities, suburbs, and small towns? Sociological Science,2(8), 125–157.
Parrado, E. A., & Kandel, W. A. (2010). Hispanic population growth and rural income inequality. Social Forces,88(3), 1421–1450.
Peri, G., & Sparber, C. (2009). Task specialization, immigration, and wages. American Economic Journal: Applied Economics,1(3), 135–169.
Quisumbing King, K. (2019). Recentering US empire: A structural perspective on the color line. Sociology of Race and Ethnicity,5(1), 11–25.
Ramey, D. M. (2013). Immigrant revitalization and neighborhood violent crime in established and new destination cities. Social Forces,92(2), 597–629.
Roth, W. D. (2012). Race migrations: Latinos and the cultural transformation of race. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.
Ryan, C. L., & Bauman, K. (2006). Educational attainment in the United States: 2015. Current Population Reports. Suitland: U.S. Census Bureau.
Rzepnikowska, A. (2019). Racism and xenophobia experienced by polish migrants in the UK before and after Brexit Vote. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies,45(1), 61–77.
Saenz, R. (1997). Ethnic concentration and Chicano poverty: A comparative approach. Social Science Research,26(2), 205–228.
Singer, A. (2004). The rise of new immigrant gateways. Washington, DC: The Brookings Institution.
Slez, A., O’Connell, H. A., & Curtis, K. J. (2017). A note on the identification of common geographies. Sociological Methods and Research,46(2), 288–299.
Suro, R., & Singer, A. (2002). Latino growth in metropolitan America: Changing patterns, new locations. Washington, DC: Brookings Institute.
Taylor, M. C., & Schroeder, M. B. (2010). The impact of hispanic population growth on the outlook of African Americans. Social Science Research,39(1), 491–505.
Tolnay, S. E., & Beck, E. M. (1992). Racial violence and black migration in the American South, 1910 to 1930. American Sociological Review,57(1), 103–116.
Tolnay, S. E., Vesselinov, E., & Crowder, K. D. (1999). The collective impact of southern migrants on the economic well-being of Northern-Born Black Males, 1970. Social Science Quarterly,80(4), 666–686.
Voss, P. R., Long, D. D., Hammer, R. B., & Friedman, S. (2006). County child poverty rates in the US: A spatial regression approach. Population Research and Policy Review,25(4), 369–391.
Waldinger, R. (1997). Black/immigrant competition re-assessed: new evidence from Los Angeles. Sociological Perspectives,40(3), 365–386.
Zhang, W., & Logan, J. R. (2016). Global neighborhoods: Beyond the multiethnic metropolis. Demography,53(6), 1933–1953.
Acknowledgements
The second author is a recipient of the 2018 Career Enhancement Fellowship and would like to acknowledge the Woodrow Wilson Foundation.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Conflict of Interest
On behalf of all authors, the corresponding author states that there is no conflict of interest.
Additional information
Publisher's Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Electronic supplementary material
Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
O’Connell, H.A., Diaz, C.J. Hispanic Population Growth and Black–White Inequality: Changing Demographics, Changing Social Positions?. Spat Demogr 8, 33–61 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40980-020-00059-2
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40980-020-00059-2