This doctoral dissertation project will examine the relationship between the ethnic economy and labor market outcomes of second generation Korean Americans in New York City. It seeks to: 1) delineate labor market patterns of the second generation, 2) explain the conditions behind particular job choices in the ethnic and mainstream labor markets, and 3) examine the impact of immigrant entrepreneurship on the labor market trajectories of the second generation. Data will be obtained from a close-ended telephone survey with approximately 200 18-35 year old second-generation (and "1.5 generation", i.e., those born in Korea but arrived in the US by age 12) Korean Americans. Afterwards, 40-60 follow-up in-depth interviews will be conducted with a select sample to carry out qualitative analysis regarding their understanding of their labor market choices. The study addresses critical questions raised by the literature on assimilation, immigrant incorporation, and intergenerational mobility. By investigating/he labor market outcomes of second generation Korean Americans, the study will shed light on the link between parental class backgrounds, the salience of a vibrant ethnic economy, and the retention of ethnicity in the mobility patterns of the second generation vis-a-vis the ethnic economy and the wider mainstream economy.
