Occupational and Spatial Mobility of Temporary Mexican Migrants to the U.S.: A Comparative Analysis

Abstract

"U.S. job and spatial mobility are compared here for recent returnee migrants from two Mexican areas--Rio Grande, Zacatecas, in the interior; and Nueva Rosita-Muzquiz, Coahuila, near the U.S. border. Results suggest that the interior migrants fit a hierarchical migrant model: they move up the urban hierarchy from U.S. rural areas to towns and cities, experiencing substantial job mobility at first, but little after reaching the urban sector. Border migrants fit a shuttle migrant model: they return to the same job and place year after year, experiencing little or no spatial and occupational mobility, although they tend to hold somewhat higher status jobs."