In Chapter 3, Nancy Foner focuses on the work of immigrants.  She also compares the work of recent immigrants to past immigrants.  One of the interesting comparisons Foner makes is that no matter the time period, immigrants often come here for betterment of their families.  This often means taking whatever jobs they can find despite the wages.  In the past and today, jobs that immigrants find here often pay more than what their jobs did at home making this new work more appealing.  Even if the wages are actually not very good, they seem good at least at first compared to the money received at home.  Many immigrants earn money and send it back home.  They plan on returning back home eventually with the money they’ve earned so that their families are more well off.

Another topic Foner brings up is “niche development.”  People create their networks of people they know and use these links to find jobs.  Immigrants find jobs through their friends and family living in America.  This benefits employers and job seekers because people are being referred to employers and immigrants are finding jobs more easily.  As this process continues, one ethnic group tends to become associated with a certain occupation, like Chinese people working in garment factories.  We also see this today in the medical field where there are many Filipino women becoming nurses.  I see this in my own life where my friend’s mother is a Filipino women who not only is a nurse but a nursing teacher as well.