2008
Abstract:
Immigration has long shaped the housing and labor markets of “gateway”
metropolitan areas in the U.S. (e.g., Borjas, 1999). In the last 15 years, or so,
however, the pattern of immigrant flows
has changed somewhat, as large numbers
of immigrants have been leaving established
gateways and even migrating directly to new
areas, which have been described as either
emerging gateways or secondary gateways.
For example, in the latter part of the 1990s,
Las Vegas saw the arrival of over 66,000 immigrants, comprising almost 25 percent of the
foreign-born population in that metropolitan
area; in addition, over 40,000 immigrants
moved there from established gateways (primarily Los Angeles). In total, more than half of
the growth from migration is from immigrant
groups. Las Vegas is by no means unique in
this respect. The Atlanta metro area received
over 200,000 foreign born residents over the
latter half of the decade of the 1990s, increasing the total immigrant population from 4
percent in 1990 to over 10 percent in 2000.
