The figures are dramaticin 1960 there were 75.000 Mexican Americans there. today. the number is estimated to be more than 170.000. There is an increase of 125 percent. while the rest of the population was increasing by 31 percent. What do these migrants find in Houston? First of all. there most likely will be a job. Dr. Sam Schulman. a professor of sociology at the University of Houston. conducted a study in the summer of 1970 which revealed that nine of 10 MexicanAmerican migrants into Houston came without a job in hand. but that 90 percent of these newcomers found employment within 2 months of arrival. While underemployment is widespread in Houston. the unemployment rate in this city stands at the remarkably low rate of 2.5 percent. This does not mean that these immigrants from the Rio Grande Valley have entered the American mainstream. They take jobs at the lowest rung of the economic ladder. and their takehome pay will allow no frills. The houses In Houston are no better than those that were left behind. often they are much worse. Food is more expensive. and the cost of travel is prohibitive. For these rural refugees. city life itself is so alien and so oppressive that hundreds of families pile into cars. buses and trains every weekend to make the long trek "home" for a visit in the valley. But they come back to the city. Whether real or not. there is the expectation that things can be better in Houston.
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immigrants migrants refugees