Author(s):
E. (Eddy) Helen Berry, Ph.D.* - Utah State University
Sang Lim Lee - Utah State University
Eduardo Ortiz - Utah State University
Michael B. Toney, Ph.D. - Utah State University
Abstract:
Due to changes in immigration laws in the 1980s, much research on immigration to the U.S. has focused on Hispanic immigration. This has been heavily influenced by labor market interests, and interest in the segmentation or assimilation of this rapidly growing group. Yet, generally, Hispanics are lumped into a single group and not disaggregated as Mexican-origin in comparison to Hispanics of other origins. The growing literature on the spatial distribution of Hispanics, particularly by demographers, has not disaggregated the group to understand how there may be differences between each ethnicity's migration patterns or the impetus for making internal migrations that have resulted in the spatial changes in residence of the group as a whole. In this paper we examine the internal migration of Mexican Latinos and non-Mexican Latinos, utilizing the National Longitudinal Surveys of Youth, 1979. The panel study will allow us to compare and contrast each group's propensity for internal migration, their likelihood for repeat migration, and their likelihood of return or onward migrations. Preliminary results indicate that non-Mexican Latinos are more mobile than Mexican Latinos as a whole. All groups are more likely to move toward metropolitan places. Onward migration is more likely to occur for Latinos in general than is return migration.
