In this chapter, Foner compares and contrasts the immigrants of the past, Jews and Italians, with the immigrants in today’s society and their role in the workforce. In the past, many jobs required just “brawn and muscle.” Today, the New York economy has shifted to one where jobs require college degrees. There is a shift from “blue collar jobs to professionals, managers, secretaries and service workers” (88). This can be the reason why immigrants today now come prepared with college degrees and specialized skills.

I also found a similarity between the Chinese garment industry of today and the Jewish immigrant industry of the past. Like the Chinese, the Jewish “employers preferred applicants who are recommended by existing employees” (80). This is because employers want to find the easiest and cheapest way to gain employees. Furthermore, these referred workers are under the pressure to do well because they do not want to reflect bad on their sponsors. Thus, these employers can take advantage of their workers because they know that the referred employees will not complain.

I am saddened that those immigrants who had professional jobs in their country cannot get those same jobs in the United States due to the lack of English, the lack of U.S. job experience, and the lack of network ties that would connect them to the mainstream economy. However, there is an upside to their decline in occupational status: they make more than they ever would back in their home country.

In the chapter, Foner states that “Koreans own most of the fruit and vegetable markets, even those announcing that they specialize in West Indian products” (108). I’ve actually noticed this; when walking down on Liberty Avenue, I found that most of the food markets were actually owned by Asian Americans.

-Anissa Daimally