What I found most interesting about chapter 3 of From Ellis Island to JFK was how different the stereotypical portrayals of immigrants’ jobs was from their actual realities. Whenever I thought of immigrants in the early 1900’s, I always thought of people with poor English-speaking skills whose only prospect was to work in a sweatshop. I was surprised to learn that there were many people who did not fit the typical immigrant profile, and that they came to New York with skills in areas that were in demand. Although there were immigrants who had to work long hours for low pay in garment factories, the Jews were able to secure a place in the clothing industry, and “by the turn of the century, Russian Jews had become the employers” (Foner 80). The Italian immigrants “made up 90 percent of those involved in New York City’s public works” and contributed to the building of the NYC subway and the Bronx aqueduct (81).
Foner calls this an ethnic niche, that is, “a special place in the labor market in which members of an ethnic group are overrepresented” (80). Ethnic niches are self-reproducing, which makes sense because people feel much more comfortable working in a place where their other immigrants have already established themselves. Also, when immigrants first arrive, they don’t really have a strong background in America, nor do they know much about their new home, but their siblings or cousins may already have a job somewhere, and so that’s the route they’ll take. Ethnic niches have persevered, and continue to remain to this day, although some of the jobs might have changed. What does this mean about the immigrant experience today? Has the immigrant experience of New York City changed so little that immigrants continue to fall into these niches instead of pursuing any careers they want?
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