UNL researcher studies earnings of Mexican Americans in the Midwest

In the 1980s and 1990s, scholars compared differences in earnings of Mexican Americans to non-Hispanic whites using data from national sources, especially California and Texas, where nearly half the Mexican-American population resided. However, between 1990 and 2000, the Mexican-American population in the Midwest and Plains states increased to more than 10 percent.

In the spring issue of Great Plains Research, University of Nebraska-Lincoln sociologist Rosalie Torres Stone and her colleague, Bandana Purkayastha of University of Connecticut, examined which factors are most important in determining average earnings for Mexican-American men and women in the Midwest. These factors included gender, education level, knowledge of English, work experience, industry, and urban or rural residence.

Overall, Mexican Americans have relatively low earnings, said Torres Stone and Purkayastha, but gender appears to have the greatest impact on their earnings, followed by urban residence, marriage and level of education. The authors say their statistics indicate discrimination is likely to occur when employers make assumptions about productivity level based on gender, and as a result, Mexican-American women will often be paid less than men in the same jobs.

The increase of low-skilled immigrant labor in the Midwest plays an important role in economic integration policies. In their conclusion, the authors suggest that the education system will need to help integrate this growing workforce by providing specialized technical skills to low-skilled Mexican workers, otherwise Mexican immigrant workers will continue to be channeled into low-skilled, low-paying peripheral jobs.

Great Plains Research, a journal of natural and social history, is edited by Robert F. Diffendal Jr., professor emeritus in the Conservation and Survey Division at UNL, and published by the Center for Great Plains Studies at UNL. The journal is available for purchase from the center at (402) 472-3082 or in the Great Plains Art Museum gift shop, 1155 Q St., Lincoln.

CONTACTS: Rosalie Torres Stone, Asst. Professor, Sociology (402) 472-6057 (rstone2@unl.edu); and
Robert F. Diffendal Jr., Editor, Great Plains Research (402) 472-6970