In Chapter 3, Nancy Foner discusses the work of immigrants and how jobs compared between immigrants from the past and present. Networking is a key tool for immigrants seeking jobs and many were recommended by family members or friends. This process is beneficial to employers because there is a constant influx of people being referenced to the employers and immigrants obtain jobs easily. The result of this was that certain industries became dominated by a specific race, such as the Chinese garment factories. Immigrants originally were able to work in jobs that did not require extensive knowledge of English or a formal education. Degrees from a foreign country were not enough proof to validate the same position in America. Even nowadays, many immigrants who held high positions back home are unable to obtain the same position here.

Chapter 4 is about the lives of immigrant women in the work place. Women were not allowed to work and if she was, hen her income was not allowed to be higher than the income of the male in the family. Surprisingly, children were able to work since 12 years old regardless of their gender. It was only when a female got married that she was required to stay home. What was even more interesting to me was that working daughters in the past contributed a high percentage of income to the family. The Jewish daughters contributed about 40% to the household income. Times have changed in the sense that immigrant women now have training and education for different fields. Gender inequality still persists because women still receive less pay than men. Furthermore, women have to contend with household responsibilities on top of their full times which makes it difficult to balance.