Context and Opportunity: Minorities in London and New York

Does the U.S. or the U.K. provide the more favorable environment for the economic achievement of immigrants? We explore this question by comparing the occupational attainment of six groups of nonwhites in London and New York. Most theoretical perspectives anticipate that the U.S. provides a more favorable context, at least so far as occupations are concerned. Our results confirm this prediction, but more convincingly for men than women. A queuing perspective offers the best explanation. In New York, African American and Puerto Rican men are relegated to the bottom of the queue, upgrading nonwhite immigrant males. Since blacks and Puerto Ricans are not present in London, many of the poorest jobs there go to other nonwhite immigrant males. But, the disparities among New York's minority women are smaller than those among men. As a result, nonwhite immigrant women in New York and London exhibit smaller occupational gaps. In our conclusion, we discuss ways that this analysis needs to be refined and extended before this interpretation is fully accepted.