Chapter 3, The Work They Do, in the Foner reading gives a great explanation about the jobs and skill sets of the immigrants of old in comparison to those of the new wave. Those immigrants of the old wave came to America having little professional training: “less than 1% percent of the Italians and only 1.3% percent of the Jews arriving in America between 1899 and 1910 who reported an occupation were professionals” (Foner 71). Many of the immigrants took with them their trades, such as carpentry, shoemaking, painting, and butchering. Similar to topics brought up in earlier readings, we can see that the immigrants of old were not as qualified as the new immigrants. Many of the old immigrants were not literate and could not read or write in their own language with accuracy (Foner 72). Of course, in those days women were also much less educated than many, which was the way of the world for many centuries. In contrast to this, many of the newer immigrants have improved on what their counterparts of old immigration lacked. They arrive with knowledge of the English language, knowing how to read, write and speak English. They arrive with degrees and higher education, proving to be competitive in the American work force: “Alongside the unlettered and unskilled are immigrant doctors, nurses, engineers, and Ph.Ds. In the early 1990s, more than a quarter of male and a third of female immigrants enter- ing New York City who reported an occupation to the INS were professionals, executives, and managers—even higher proportions than among arrivals in the 1980s” (Foner 72).”
Foner also notes that for many of the newcomers, English is “the official language or the language of educated discourse.” Another contrast to the immigrants of old is that women are among those who are educated. Given this progressive time that we live in, in many nations, women are allowed to be educated and hold positions once believed to only be suited for men. Today’s immigrants have contributed much to society since many of them are educated and carry their trades to the States. This all makes me wonder if this trend will continue of if we will see a reversal in this progress.
