Legal status, gender and employment among Salvadorans in the US

✍ Scribed by Wright, Richard ;Bailey, Adrian J. ;Miyares, Ines ;Mountz, Alison

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 2000
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 152 KB
• Volume: 6
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 1077-3495
• DOI: 10.1002/1099-1220(200007/08)6:4<273::aid-ijpg188>3.0.co;2-0

✦ Synopsis

This paper investigates the labour market experiences of Salvadorans who reside and work in the US. Many Salvadorans work on temporary visas, which are currently renewed annually until the Immigration and Naturalisation Service or the courts hear their asylum cases under the American Baptist Church v Thornburgh (ABC) ruling. Acknowledging that gender provides the foundation for most occupational segregation and income inequality, we evaluate how legal status and gender interrelate and shape (and are shaped by) the work experiences of Salvadorans. We also consider how transnational obligations to family in El Salvador in¯uence employment behaviour and outcomes, and in so doing the research asks us to think anew about the localness of local labour markets. The study relies on data collected during 15 months of ®eldwork in northern New Jersey and El Salvador.