An examination of the relationship between the presence of immigrant workers and technology in United States manufacturing industries

This dissertation examines variations in production techniques and the proportion of employed foreign born workers in U.S. manufacturing industries. The driving research question is: how do patterns of technological change within industries and regions vary with the increasing utilization of immigrant laborers? This question is driven by developments in evolutionary theories of technical change and by work in geography and economics that extends these theories through a consideration of space.;The empirical work is conducted on manufacturing industries in the U.S. at two scales: the first considers differences in manufacturing industries spread across metropolitan areas in the U.S., the second examines the local region of the Los Angeles Consolidated Metropolitan Statistical Area. Production techniques for each industry in each region are measured through the use of capital and labor input coefficients. These coefficients are combined with MANOVA statistical techniques to conduct a cross-section examination of production technologies in relation to the presence of immigrant workers.;For the first scale of analysis (metropolitan areas), I find that in 15 out of 27 industries examined there exists a statistically significant relationship between plant technology and the proportion of the workforce that is foreign born. For the second scale of analysis (Los Angeles Consolidated Metropolitan Statistical Area), I find that in 7 out of 38 industries there is a statistically significant relationship between plant technology and the proportion of the workforce that is foreign born.;In a number of industries at both scales I find an expected pattern of technology coefficients. This pattern suggests that plants that employ high proportions of immigrants are ones that are labor-intensive and capital non-intensive. However, in a few of the industries I find an unexpected pattern of technology coefficients that suggest that plants which employ high proportions of immigrants utilize labor-intensive and capital-intensive production techniques. Several possible explanations exist for this pattern, including differences in factor prices that allow for plants that make intensive use of capital and labor to purchase inputs at relatively low prices. Overall, these results suggest that beyond just wages and employment levels, workers do influence patterns of technology change in manufacturing industries.