Laboring Underground: Hispanic Immigrant Men and the Segmented Labor Market in Durham, NC

Chenoa A. Flippen, University of Pennsylvania

The dramatic increase in Hispanic immigration to the United States in recent decades has been coterminous with fundamental shifts in the labor market towards heightened flexibility, instability, and informality. As a result, the low-wage labor market is increasingly occupied by Hispanic immigrants, many of whom are undocumented. While numerous studies examine the implications for natives’ employment prospects, our understanding of low-wage immigrants themselves remains underdeveloped. Drawing on original data collected in Durham, NC, we provide a holistic account of immigrant Hispanic’s labor market experiences, examining not only wages but also employment instability and benefit coverage, as well as the role of subcontracting, informal employment, occupation, firm size, and segregated worksites in structuring these outcomes. Results indicate that these factors form a constellation of disadvantage that powerfully bound immigrant employment outcomes.