Abstract

The Migration Reverses

This article focuses on the exodus of Puerto Ricans to New York City and other parts of the U.S. The 1953 net migration, the difference between the number leaving and those returning, was an out movement of 70,000. The emigration decline has taken all local government planners by surprise. The Commonwealth Planning Board, two years ago, had projected an average migration during this decade of 40,000 a year. This was revised down to 15,000, when the board began to notice the downward trend, but in the first three years of this decade, annual net migration has averaged less than 5,000. The reason for the failure of the predictions is jobs. There is a near perfection relation between job opportunity in the U.S. and the inflow of Puerto Ricans.