ETHNIC ECONOMIES IN METROPOLITAN REGIONS - MIAMI AND BEYOND

This article surveys the labor market status of racial and ethnic grou ps in seventeen metropolitan areas. Five Asian groups (Japanese, Chine se, Koreans, Filipinos, and Asian Indians) and three Hispanic groups ( Cubans, Mexicans, and Puerto Ricans) are compared to non-Hispanic whit es and blacks. Minority business concentrations are found mostly in a few low-wage sectors with low capitalization, low levels of unionizati on, and high proportions of female employees. Patterns of economic inc orporation meeting a minimal definition of an enclave economy are iden tified for several groups. Of these, the Cuban economy in Miami (along with Japanese in Honolulu and Koreans in Los Angeles) is unusual in t erms of both size and sectoral diversity; the typical ''enclave'' appe ars to be based on a combination of apparel manufacturing and ethnic f oods.