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Latino Immigrants, Meatpacking, and Rural Communities: A Case Study of Lexington, Nebraska

Author: Gouveia, Lourdes
Date Published: 1997


During the 1980s, Nebraska and other Great Plains states experienced a severe farm and debt crisis. During that decade, slightly over 100,000 more people left the state than entered it. Rural counties bore the brunt of out-migration as 40 out of 52 such counties experienced double digit rates of out-migration. Late in 1988, IBP, the world's largest meat processing firm, announced it would open a beef packing plant in Lexington, on the site of the old Sperry New Holland plant. The population exodus, and an incipient recovery of Nebraska's economy toward the end of the 1980s, were responsible for seemingly enviable state and local unemployment figures hovering around 3%. Low unemployment meant firms relocating to the areas would confront labor shortages. The recruitment of new labor, most likely Latino labor, would be at the center of IBP's employment strategies. Today, IBP employs some 2,300 workers, the percentage of which that are Latino fluctuates between 70 and 80%.

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Number of Pages: 18