Culture, race, and the economic assimilation of immigrants

Abstract

The economic assimilation of European-origin immigrants is fairly rapid but selectively culture contingent; the economic assimilation of racial minority immigrants is less rapid and less culture contingent. Regression analysis of survey data examines occupational status and earnings effects of eight ethnic attachments among men and women in seven ethnic and racial minorities in mainstream and enclave employment in Toronto (N = 1792), controlling for foreign and domestically acquired human capital. Assimilationist pressures that the survey showed to be widely perceived may apply more to Europeans than to racial minorities. Economic assimilation is affected when “foreignness” is most pronounced: very selectively for European immigrants and universally for racial minorities treated as “foreign,” presumably based on skin color, regardless of specific culture, identity, behaviors, or network affiliations.