Demographic Characteristics and Concerns of New Arrivals to Rural Nebraska

Immigration is often thought of as a problem primarily for large metropolitan areas. However, much of the recent literature dealing with the meat processing industry focuses on the migration it generates toward small, rural towns in the American Midwest. The prior studies frequently use a qualitative method. The primary goal of this study was to explore the characteristics of new arrivals to two Midwestern towns (Schuyler and Crete, Nebraska). The basic method used for developing the inventory of demographic characteristics and concerns was analyzing data from two quantitative studies previously conducted by the authors. Identical questions were selected from each study in order to create a uniform data set. Selected questions include length of residence, number of persons in the household, age, sex, nationality, level of education, occupation, and place of origin, as well as inadequacy of income, job satisfaction, pressure to do better at work, racial discrimination, and struggle for a better house. This study presents a description of the demographic characteristics and concerns of the recent arrivals to the two communities. The results could have implications for other similar communities.