Selling the Lower East Side

 

Post-World War II Migration from Puerto Rico to the US

In the 1950s, Puerto Ricans established a residential enclave on the Lower East Side. The status of Puerto Ricans as citizens meant settlement patterns in New York City would differ from those of previous immigrant newcomers; migrants could return to Puerto Rico without hindrance for personal or economic reasons. Puerto Rican migration trickled and, at times, swelled. Job opportunities in lower-echelon manufacturing industries in New York and social changes related to industrial and agricultural policies in Puerto Rico accounted for periods of significant migration.

Puerto Ricans and the Changing Labor Market

By the mid 1950s, the labor market opportunities that had drawn many Puerto Ricans to New York began to change in dramatic ways. The restructuring of the low-wage economy (garment manufacturing, unskilled or semiskilled assembly jobs) constrained the housing choices for many Puerto Rican workers. Limits to new employment and promotion opportunities blocked the traditional path of mobility for low-wage workers. Soon after their arrival, the "golden door" of social and economic mobility that had worked for a significant portion of earlier generations slammed shut in the face of many Puerto Rican workers, further limiting, among other things, their residential choices.

 

 

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Selling the Lower East Side,

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Site design © 2000: Kurt Reymers and Dan Webb.
(University at Buffalo, Department of Sociology)