Labor Migration and the Deepwater Oil Industry

OCS Study MMS 2004-057

The Minerals Management Service (MMS), Gulf of Mexico OCS Region, announces the availability of a new study report, Labor Migration and the Deepwater Oil Industry.

The principal objective of this project was to assess the impact of international immigration on port communities in the State of Louisiana, where deep-sea offshore drilling has rapidly increased labor demand since 1995. Relying on data collected from employers, community leaders, foreign-born workers, and other residents to describe how new immigrants first incorporate in these communities, the project examined consequences of the new immigrant presence in four Louisiana port communities situated along the Gulf of Mexico – Morgan City, Houma, New Iberia, and Port Fourchon. Broadly speaking, findings reveal how foreign-born labor that was imported by employers had far-reaching implications on how they were integrated into the receiving community. In Houma, employers played the major role in shaping the early economic and social incorporation of immigrant workers by using temporary visas to bring in workers. In Morgan City, employers, community groups, and co-ethnic networks interacted to facilitate the early incorporation of newcomers. The result was higher levels of satisfaction among new immigrant residents in Morgan City, despite a contentious public controversy that arose in the early 1990’s when a large employer attempted to house immigrants on commercial property. During the last 20 years, Laotian refugees resettled in New Iberia, where they have now accumulated economic and social capital and maintain middle-class lifestyles. In summary, communities in southern Louisiana witnessed different processes of early immigrant assimilation for both immigrant workers and the communities hosting them.

This report is available only in compact disc format. The disc is available from the Minerals Management Service, Gulf of Mexico OCS Region, at a charge of $15.00 by referencing OCS Study MMS 2004-057. The report may be ordered through the Minerals Management Service’s on-line ordering system at http://www.gomr.mms.gov/WebStore/front.asp. You will be able to obtain this report also from the National Technical Information Service in the near future. Here are the addresses. You may also inspect copies at selected Federal Depository Libraries.