AN UNSETTLED PEACE 253lost residents. From 1980 to 2000, however,
its population quadrupled, as did the Latino share
of that population. Nationwide, the non-Latino white
workforce in meat processing dropped from 74 to
under 50 percent in those same two decades, while
the Latino proportion grew from under 10 to nearly
30 percent. Today, Latinos constitute more than
80 percent of the nation’s meatpacking workforce.
The map captures all of these trends, showcasing
not absolute populations but rather the change
over time. Admittedly, this leaves us with a slightly
exaggerated picture given that the Latino population
of these regions was so small before 1990. But it maps
several dynamics that have transformed the region:
global competition and migration, a shifting labor
market, consumer demand, and the commodification
of food.
[Note: while “Hispanic” and “Latino” are terms used
interchangeably by the Census Bureau, here we use
the term “Latino.”]