The Transformation of Labor Geographies in the Crab Processing Industry of Eastern North Carolina

Abstract

Transitions in regional economics and social structures arise out of the complex interaction of global processes and local events. The manifestations of these regional transformations include the restructuring of local industries and their labor forces, as well as the reworking of social ideologies. This paper investigates one such transformation, focusing upon labor restructuring in the crab processing industry of eastern North Carolina. In the early 1990s the crab processing industry faced a labor crisis based on the inability of the industry to continue to recruit workers from local labor sources. An alternative labor force was found in Mexican migrant women who were brought into the industry under the H2-B temporary worker program. This change in the labor pool of a once quite localized industry is shown in this study to be a reflection of broader transformations in the regional economic base, social ideologies, and the internationalization of the industry itself.