Business structure, ethnic shifts in labor markets, and violence: The link between company size, local labor markets, and non-Latino homicide

•We find that labor markets shifted in favor of Latinos from 1990 to 2000.•This shift is associated with higher rates of homicide among non-Latinos.•We find that increases in Black homicide are linked to rises in concentrated poverty.•We also find that increases in White homicide are linked to institutionally unattached youths.•We find that larger businesses favor Latino workers, while smaller businesses favor non-Latinos. Combining several schools of thought, including the civic engagement thesis, we extend current research by linking three things at the county level; firm size, the ethnic composition of labor markets, and violent crime. Our results suggest that larger businesses (based on the average number of persons employed) are more likely to have an external orientation and long recruitment reach, and this is linked to ethnic shifts in labor markets toward Latino workers. Such shifts are in turn associated with high rates of homicide among non-Latinos. Through indirect effects modeling, we find that increases in Black homicide are linked to rises in concentrated poverty, while increases in White homicide are linked to changes in unemployment. We discuss the implications of our findings.