Labor Recruitment and the Lure of the Capital

Central American Immigrants in Washington, D.C.

This case study of Central American migration to Washington, DC closely examines how gender is related to the decision to migrate, as well as the choice of destination.

The study investigates the social and economic conditions in sending Central American countries as well as those in a receiving city in the United States to determine why women predominate in certain labor migrations.

A macrostructural analysis accounts for the conditions that delimit the flow of international migrants, but a concept termed gendered labor recruitment provides the link between macro- and microlevels of analysis.

Results of the research indicate that approximately seventy percent of the initial Central American migrants to the nation’s capital in the 1960s and 1970s were women and that their migration may be attributed partly to informal labor recruitment.

Over the years, Washington’s government, diplomatic and professional workforce “recruited,” made arrangements for, or returned to the nation’s capital with foreign workers who could provide basic services, primarily as domestics and child-care providers.