The Philippine professional labor diaspora in the United States with a focus on Indiana's mid-size cities

This thesis examines the Philippine labor diaspora in the United States, both historical and modern, with a specific focus on the modern period of migration to midsize urban places in Indiana. The historical or pre-1965 period is marked by two successive waves of movement to the United States, each of which is based upon different labor demands for unskilled labor. The modern period was initiated by the 1965 United States Immigration and Naturalization Act and is marked by far greater volumes of Filipinos entering the country. This most recent influx is characterized by significant numbers of professionals, an expression of the regional division of `skilled' labor migration flows between developing and developed countries associated with globalization. Quantitative questionnaires and qualitative interviews with 30 FilipinoAmerican professionals in six mid-size cities in Indiana examined topics of labor recruitment practices, secondary migration patterns, and the remittance practices and group formation associated with transnational identities.