Laura López-Sanders, Stanford University

Abstract
While many studies document employer preference for Latino immigrants over African
Americans, few studies provide evidence on how this preference translates into changes in the
ethnic composition of the labor force. This paper addresses the mechanisms that account for
these changes and their effects on race and ethnic relations. Using unique ethnographic data
collected in new immigrant destinations, I show how the ethnic composition of a large industrial
manufacturing firm changed from being almost exclusively black and white, to becoming forty
percent Latino in many departments over the course of one year. Racial dynamics along with
selection mechanisms, namely “labor queues” (employers’ ranking of workers) and “job queues”
(workers’ ranking of jobs), are central in explaining ethnic replacement processes. Labor queues
are influenced by racial preferences and the tenuous legal status of many Latino immigrant
workers; job queues, on the other hand, are influenced by the interplay of race, gender and the
alternatives available to workers. These dynamics carry important consequences. When workers
ranked at the bottom of the labor queue face replacement pressure, they protect their positions by
antagonizing their would-be replacements. This strategy protects their jobs by providing
incentives for their replacements to leave for better jobs. Ironically, this successful strategy
results in a stable labor queue where workers ranked at the bottom trap themselves in jobs at the
bottom of the job queue.