| Abstract: | Different perspectives have been offered to explain ethnic labor market concentrations. In most studies, however, residential places are seldom included in the research framework. Using data from 5% Public Used Microdata Samples in 2000, this case study of the San Francisco Bay Area reveals that the robust growth of the new economy is dramatically segmenting the geography of employment and thereby the spatial division of labor in each ethnic group. Living arrangements, such as central-city residence and living in coethnic-concentrated-PUMAs, increase the chances of niche employment for most racial/ethnic groups, even after controlling for human capital and certain local context factors. However, there is a "substitution" effect between personal socioeconomic status and location factors. This study argues that living arrangements can provide a mechanism through which personal characteristics, social networking, and ethnic recourses interact with macroeconomic trends, and thus carve out local labor market experiences across the urban space. |
