Racial Discrimination Effect on Labor Market

A questionnaire was given to a group of Hispanics born outside of the United States that contained four sections: background, simple skills like signing your name, literacy stimulation skills like reading, and finally oral. (Ortiz,P.152) When it came to the results, Hispanics born in the United States had a little higher level of literacy of 284.0 as compared to foreign-born Hispanics who had a 240.4. But when it came to English proficiency, native-born Hispanics and Foreign-born Hispanics were neck and neck at 3.6 on a scale from 1 to 5.(Ortiz,

This paper will be focused on Hispanic immigrant population since Hispanics are a rapidly growing group in the United States and more tend to be poor (Broussard & Alfred, 2009). In details, Hispanic population grew 43 percent between 2000 and 2010 (one in four Hispanics was poor in 2009), and it is projected to triple in size by 2050 (Nwosu, C., Batalova, J., & Auclair, G., 2014). Moreover, income inequality was higher among Hispanics than among whites (Nwosu, C., Batalova, J., & Auclair, G., 2014).

This resulted in fewer jobs available for anyone, and left Vietnamese at a greater disadvantage because they lack English, and skill. Without basic English skills, finding a job, renting an apartment, or even buying food became very difficult. (“Vietnamese Americans.”). This lead to English as a Second Language programs (ESL). ESL programs would provide the amount of English to find work, but not raise past the “poverty level” (Li). Vietnamese did receive education, but this only created opportunity to find low-paying jobs. Even with programs like ESL, less than half of Vietnamese Americans (41%) speak English proficiently (Taylor). Boat People who lacked English could not find jobs and found difficulties doing everyday tasks. When Vietnamese began to understand their struggle in the job market, they would try to open restaurants, but Americans would not accept the new flavor of food (“The Asian American Experience-Building New Saigon”). No business in the restaurants forced them to close, and find work elsewhere. Then the Boat People turned to the fishing industry. At first whites tolerated Vietnamese in the fishing industry because they posed no threat. However, when Vietnamese bought shrimp boats, they became a threat to white’s businesses, and whites began to dislike Vietnamese. (“Asian Americans”). Some Vietnamese would get extremely involved in the fishing industry, but learned better from violence used against

The Chinese Exclusion act banned all Chinese people moving to America. Chinese people emigrated to California in 1848 during the California Gold Rush. Massive amounts of Chinese people moved to the west Coast to make money and return home to the Qing Empire. They were mainly drawn to the west coast as a way to prosper economically. Many were discriminated against and given low wages, and had poor

Presently there is still some social inequality and reverse discrimination is something that I have faced. Some places exist where they will not hire someone if they don't know how to speak Spanish even though English is the main language at the work place. They can easily get away with it because they report that the language is needed to conduct the business and this is accepted by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

(Newman and Pedulla, 2010). This number is twice as much as whites. Even if they had a job, many African Americans work for the low quality jobs. This means low levels of income relatively whites. And also nearly 50% of the wage differences between blacks and whites result from the racial discrimination. (Greene and Rogers, 1994). So, we can say that discrimination of wages between blacks and whites play a key role to determinate the income status of blacks. Also underemployment is serious as unemployment for many Americans especially for African Americans, because generally they work in that kind of positions. In March, almost 6 percent of workers had worked part time involuntary jobs. (Newman and Pedulla, 2010).

In the late 1800’s, Chinese immigrants were largely discriminated against in America. Considering the past, and the way white Americans have treated anyone different from them, it’s no surprise they treated these immigrants with disdain. The Chinese Exclusion Act was a law passed in 1882 to stop the influx of Chinese people immigrating into America. Two huge factors in passing the law was that the Chinese were viewed as lower class barbarians and were seen as anti-white. Some say the law was passed due to the economic tensions between the Chinese and whites, however this is false.

Many workers work in jobs that pay them under the table or in horrible conditions. “Latino households can expect to earn 70 cents to a dollar less than the average white person makes. Hispanic households make 12 cents to a dollar less than white non-Hispanic people” (Schaefer, 2012, P. 224). With Latinos and Hispanics working under the table, they are not making as much as they would make if they were earning a paycheck legally. Since they are also sending money home to their families they have very little left of what they do earn for themselves. “Out of the last quarter century, the proportion of Latinos in poverty has been two or three times that of white non-Hispanics” (Schaefer, 2012, P. 224). With the average American battling to stay above the poverty line, more of the Latino and Hispanic communities are below it because of the financial obstacles in the way. Latino and Hispanic populations have been rapidly growing in the United States. “In 1975 congress addressed citizens with multilingual backgrounds” (Schaefer, 2012, P. 226). Many Latino and Hispanic Americans want to become legal so they can participate in the political position of being a United States citizen. Latino and Hispanic Americans want to be able to vote in upcoming elections. Since the increase in their population and the decision of congress in 1975; more ballots are being made to be English and Spanish depending on the particular country, city or state (Schaefer, 2012, P.

“Hispanics in manufacturing, wholesale and retail, and transportation industries have been particularly hard hit”. (Gonzalez, 2002)

The government targeted the Asian Americans as a threat. As Takaki asserted, “Unlike European immigrants, Asians were also victimized by the institutionalized racial discrimination of public policies.” These policies include the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 and the National Origins Act of 1924. The social image of America can clearly be seen as only “whites” when the government institute policies to encourage European women to arrive to America so the immigrants can form families, while Asian women were barred the entry to prevent families to form

The Chinese Exclusion Act in 1882 is a Congressional Act passed by congress and signed by President Chester A. Author prohibiting Chinese laborers (skilled and unskilled) from coming to the United States for ten years. If Chinamen did not have proper identification then they would face deportation, this caused the Chinese population to drop drastically. This act was created due to racism and white racial superiority, negative stigmas of Chinese people, low job availability and the envy of Chinese labor.

Despite their hard work, the Chinese still encountered discrimination for generations after the completion of the railroad. California laws restricted them from being admitted as witnesses in court, voting, and becoming naturalized citizens. Chinese schoolchildren were also exposed to segregation. On May 6, 1882, the federal government passed the Chinese Exclusion Act. This act forbid new Chinese workers from entering the U.S, and prevented Chinese immigrants who were already in the U.S from becoming citizens. This law remained in effect until

One factor that contributes to the lost wages between men and Latinas are due to the career choice Latina’s decide to choose. According to the National Partnership, “Latinas are typically paid 54 cents for every dollar a male makes” (1). This is calculated by dividing the median earnings of full-time, year-round, working women by the median earnings of full-time, year-round, working men, all rounded to the nearest $100. An example shown by the U.S. Census Bureau, states, “ In 2016 the median salary for men working full-time, year-round was $51,6400, while the similar figure for women was $41,554. This translates to a wage gap of roughly 20 cents per dollar. Or, to put it another way, women earned 80.5 percent of what men were taking home that year, an increase of 1.1 percent” (2). Now you’re probably as curious to know why men

Throughout the history of America there have been programs such as, the Bracero program, that imports immigrants from other countries to work in the U.S. In order for these Mexican immigrants to do their job, they had to be able to communicate with one another. Because many of these non-American workers did not speak English they were offered labor jobs that the white american workers were to reluctant to do themselves

Immigrants who lack competence in English suffer disproportionately from unemployment and are on occasions discriminated against. In fact James & Lesley Milroy (2002) suggest those who are not fluent in English “may find that his or her social mobility is blocked such as refusal in employment without an official admission that this refusal was based on partially or wholly on his or her use of language” (p.2). For instance, a fluent French-speaking applicant was looking vigorously for a job in France (Chaze & George, 2013, p.126). Even though she was fluent in French she failed to find a secure placement in work because her mother tongue was not French (Chaze & George, 2013, p. 126). In addition, a qualified applicant was rejected for casual teaching because he was not competent in English (Munro, 2003,