This century's northward migration of blacks to a land of plentiful jobs and racial freedom has begun to reverse as a growing number of blacks return to their Southern roots.

Spread out in scores of cities far beyond the Southwest, they find jobs plentiful but advancement difficult.

With the end of large-scale immigration, populations stabilized and the plentiful jobs in the cities pulled families upwards in terms of social mobility.

The percentage of respondents reporting "jobs plentiful" declined, while the percentage reporting "jobs hard to get" increased.

The majority of the once plentiful blue-collar jobs, typical in the timber industry economy for decades, were permanently lost.

There just are no plentiful jobs as the boomers had.

In successive waves from the 19th to the 20th century, immigrants streamed into Brooklyn for its plentiful jobs in maritime operations, factories, warehouses and sugar refineries.

The more plentiful jobs, he said, remain in the high- technology and health-care fields.

With jobs elsewhere plentiful, the town was finding it hard to recruit new employees, particularly in the highway department, where starting wages were among the lowest.

Ask Mexican immigrants why they risk coming to the United States illegally, and the reasons seldom vary: better wages, plentiful jobs, family ties and future opportunity.