Where are we now? – Chinese Garment Industry

With the fall of the garment industry, where are Chinese immigrants working now?

Many of the Chinese immigrants who originally worked in the clothing factories are retired. However, some are still working jobs. Some are still working in clothing factories, ones that have not yet closed after the recession. It may not pay much better than before but it is decent for an employee who excels in sewing after years of practice.

One popular department of work that many Chinese immigrants are in right now is elderly care. Not just Chinese, but all ethnic groups are increasing their importance on elderly care. Many Chinese immigrants are becoming elderly aids and nurses. Because of the huge immigration numbers back in the 1980s, many retired immigrants are requiring assistance, especially with family working and too busy to care for the elderly. So in order to tend to all the elderly immigrants from the 1980s, the younger immigrants would go into the care, watching over the elderly while their family went to work.

The younger generation of immigrants, the age after the garment industry, focused a lot of looking for higher education jobs. Many late Chinese immigrants took classes and obtained diplomas in order to apply for better jobs, such as banking, accounting, construction, as well as engineering. They wanted to be able to support their family, so that the elderly wouldn’t need to continue working long hours in factories. My parents always told me to focus on school so that I could get a good job instead of finding a “dirty job.”

Even though the Garment Industry marked the end of an era in Chinese Immigration jobs, it opened doors to many other opportunities for the Chinese community.