Sewing Women ─ Immigrants And The New York City Garment Industry

Many Latino and Chinese women who immigrated to New York City over the past two decades found work in the garment industry - an industry well known for both hiring immigrants and its harsh working conditions. Today the garment industry is one of the largest immigrant employers in New York City and workers in Chinese- and Korean-owned factories produce 70 percent of all manufactured clothing in New York City. Based on extensive interviews with workers and employers, Margaret M. Chin offers a detailed and complex portrait of the work lives of Chinese and Latino garment workers. Chin, whose mother and aunts worked in Chinatown's garment industry, also explores how immigration status, family circumstances, ethnic relations, and gender affect the garment industry workplace. In turn, she analyzes how these factors affect whom employers hire and what wages and benefits are given to the employees.
Chin's work also provides an overview of the history of the garment industry, examines immigration strategies, and concludes with a discussion of changes in the industry in the aftermath of 9/11.

Margaret M. Chin is assistant professor of sociology at Hunter College of the City University of New York.