Selectivity of Migrants to a Metropolis in a Developing Country: A Mexican Case Study

Abstract

Abstract A proper evaluation of native-migrant differences requires information on migrant selectivity. Are migrants positively or negatively selective or are they representative of the populations from which they originate? This question was posed for a sample of male migrants to Monterrey, Mexico, a rapidly growing metropolis in a developing country. A comparison was made between the characteristics of migrants and census information for the origin populations for 1940 and 1960. Overall, in terms of education and occupational position, migrants are positively selective. However, using three time-of-arrival cohorts, it is shown that migrants have become less selective over time. There has been a shift from a “pioneer” to a “mass” pattern of migration, with the latter group more closely approximating the characteristics of the origin population. Besides having lower educational and skill levels, the “mass” migrants are more likely to be made up of married men and their families. To the extent that the Monterrey pattern will be encountered in other large and fast-growing urban areas in Latin America, it suggests that the assimilation of migrants in these places will become more rather than less difficult.