A Comparative Analysis of the Position of Undocumented Mexicans in the Los Angeles County Work Force in 1980

Abstract

This paper examines the position of undocumented Mexican immigrants into the Los Angeles workforce relative to that of the total work force and also relative to that of 8 other ethnic groups within the county. Undocumented Mexican men and women are shown to have had much lower levels of human capital than men and women in other ethnic groups. The low level of human capital among undocumented Mexicans was hypothesized to make their position with regard to occupation industry and class of worker more distinct from the total workforce than that of any other ethnic group. It was also hypothesized that the position of undocumented Mexicans would be somewhat to very dissimilar to 6 other ethnic groups with considerably higher levels of human capital but similar to 2 such groups with only slightly higher levels. For the most part the hypotheses were confirmed. (authors)