Abel Valenzuela

Abel Valenzuela is a professor in the César E. Chávez Department of Chicana and Chicano Studies and also director of the UCLA Institute for Research on Labor and Employment. Valenzuela is an expert on day laborers, immigration and labor markets, urban poverty and inequality, and immigrant settlement patterns. Valenzeula’s work focuses on understanding the social position and impact of immigrants in the United States, especially in Los Angeles.

Valenzuela, who is also a professor of urban planning, has studied how different groups of workers compete for low-wage, low-skill jobs; the local economic and employment impacts of immigration; and job search and commuting behavior among racial and ethnic groups in Los Angeles. Valenzuela is undertaking research on non-union supermarket janitors (subcontractors), immigrant-serving community based organizations, and the organizing campaigns of security guards and car wash attendants.

Valenzuela is available to do interviews in Spanish.