Immigrant and native financial well-being: The roles of place of education and race/ethnicity

Immigrants’ integration into U.S. society has occupied the interest of both scholars and the general public throughout the nation’s history. This paper draws on and refines dominance-differentiation theory to explore how immigrants’ place of education (whether they completed their education in the United States or abroad) and racial/ethnic status differentially affect their ability to integrate into U.S. society. Using the Survey of Income and Program Participation and wealth attainment as an indicator of economic integration, this paper finds mixed evidence for dominance-differentiation theory. Foreign education is associated with lower wealth attainment and race/ethnicity serves as an important stratifying factor for blacks and Latinos; however, there is little support for the theory when comparing the wealth attainment of immigrants with their same-race/co-ethnic native-born peers. This paper concludes with a discussion of why place of education matters for wealth attainment in the United States and explores its implications for both educational and racial/ethnic stratification among U.S. immigrants.     

The making of national identity among older Estonians in the United States

The purpose of this study was to investigate the development of national identity throughout adulthood among older Estonians in the United States. The participants of the study arrived in the United States as World War II refugees, fleeing the Soviet occupation of their homeland. The data were collected using in-depth semistructured interviews, participant observations, and publications of the Estonian community. The interview sample consisted of 30 Estonians who were 75–92 years old. Data analysis was guided by the grounded theory approach. The study revealed that for Estonian refugees of the participants' generation, national identity has been a central aspect of their personal and social identities throughout their lives. However, when the participants became refugees, the expressions of national identity intensified and acquired a mission-like character. Now in old age, their national identity provides them with an important source of existential meaning and a basis for social connections.     

Navigating “illegality”: Undocumented youth & oppositional consciousness

In recent years, a vibrant political movement has emerged, led by a sector previously thought to be too vulnerable to engage in public protest-undocumented youth. This article explores the experiences of undocumented youth and their emergent activism. I posit that growing up within the context of dominant discourses regarding immigration in a moment marked by a re-entrenchment of borders and citizenship shapes not only the lived experiences, but also the political consciousness of many undocumented young people. Drawing on 18 months of ethnographic research with undocumented Latino youth activists in California, this article argues that oppositional consciousness is forged through the constant navigation of “illegality”. I examine two sites upon which this navigation takes place – the negotiation of fear and shame and the navigation of the exclusion – and explore the way in which negotiation of “illegality” in these sites of daily life contributes to the development of an oppositional consciousness.     

The incidence of subminimum pay among native and immigrant workers

This paper econometrically compares the subminimum wage propensities of immigrants and US natives using 1989 microdata. A conventional expectation is that immigrants are more likely to earn subminimum wages because of their lesser education and knowledge of labor rights. However, immigrants also tend to participate full time in the labor market and field studies suggest they provide employers an 'experienced' labor pool. Indeed, our findings indicate that immigrants by age, sex, and race/ethnic group are less likely than natives to receive subminimum wages. These findings imply that the foreign born do not contribute disproportionately to the informal economy.     

Psychological and Social Adjustment of Russian-Born and Israeli-Born Jewish Adolescents

This study compares the social, school, behavioral and psychological functioning of high school students who immigrated from the Commonwealth Independent States (CIS) to that of Israeli-born children whose parents emigrated from the former Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) during the sixties and the seventies. In most areas of life, no significant differences were found between the two groups. The majority of the Israeli-born and immigrant adolescents functioned well in terms of social and educational functioning and tended to avoid involvement in dangerous behavior, such as drug use and delinquency. Concerning psychological functioning, the results pointed to an interesting phenomenon: even though no significant differences were found between the two research groups, the adolescents in both groups expressed higher emotional distress when compared to norms of Israeli adolescents who are not of Russian origin. In addition, the results showed that among the immigrant adolescents, the longer they resided in Israel the more the economic status of their parents improved, their self-esteem rose, the more likely it was that their levels of somatization, paranoia and general emotional stress decreased. At the same time, however, the frequency of alcoholic consumption increased, the longer they lived in Israel. A discussion of the results sums up the article.     

How do they do it? The immigrant paradox in the transition to adulthood

How do children of immigrants consistently outperform children of native-born U.S. parents, in spite of lower familial resources? Using the Transition to Adulthood Study of the Panel Study of Income Dynamics, children of immigrant and native-born parents completing high school in 2005–13 are followed as they move into the young adult years. Children of immigrants are more likely to enroll in college, be employed or in school, and less likely to have a criminal record as young adults or to have a child than children of nonimmigrants. This is not a result of immigrant parentage but due primarily to greater parental educational expectations; immigrants enjoy a differential return to parental expectations for boys' college enrollment as well. Reading skills and activity patterns in the secondary school years also contribute to better outcomes. Children of immigrants are better able to translate their reading comprehension skills to college or employment later on.     

The effect of immigration on the internal migration of the native-born population, 1981–1990

This study examines the impact of immigration on the labor market opportunities of the native-born population by looking through the window of migration. We use Current Population Survey data to analyze the one-year migration patterns of Anglos and Blacks and include the presence of recent immigrants in the origin and (potential) destination US states among the covariates. Our departure model employs a logit specification to predict outmigration (vs not) from the state during the year prior to the survey. Our arrival model uses a conditional logit discrete choice specification with sampling among the alternatives to predict destination state. The data are taken from the 1981, 1984, 1987, and 1990 Current Population Surveys. This work adds to other knowledge of the migratory response of workers and sheds light on theories of substitution and complementarity in labor markets. States with high levels of recent immigration are less likely to retain Anglo workers or receive new Anglo interstate migrants, but this apparent substitution effect is partially offset by the presence of long-term immigrant stock. Lower skilled Anglos are more susceptible to this substitution effect than those of higher skill level. In the black population, results are more complex. Lower skilled blacks are less attracted to high immigrant locations, but African-Americans of higher skill level in selected occupations and industries are predicted to be more likely to remain in or choose states with many recent immigrants.     

Diverging fortunes? Economic well-being of Latinos and African Americans in new rural destinations

The geographic diffusion of Latinos from immigrant gateways to newly-emerging rural destinations is one of the most significant recent trends in U.S. population redistribution. Yet, few studies have explored how Latinos have fared in new destinations, and even fewer have examined economic implications for other minority workers and their families. We use county-level data from the 1990 and 2000 U.S. Census and the 2006–2010 American Community Survey to compare the changing economic circumstances (e.g., employment and unemployment, poverty, income, and homeownership) of Latinos and African Americans in new Latino boomtowns. We also evaluate the comparative economic trajectories of Latinos in new destinations and established gateways. During the 1990s, new rural destinations provided clear economic benefits to Latinos, even surpassing African Americans on some economic indicators. The 2000s, however, ushered in higher rates of Latino poverty; the economic circumstances of Latinos also deteriorated more rapidly in new vis-à-vis traditional destinations. By 2010, individual and family poverty rates in new destinations were significantly higher among Latinos than African Americans, despite higher labor force participation and lower levels of unemployment. Difference-in-difference models demonstrate that in both the 1990s and 2000s, economic trajectories of African Americans in new Latino destinations largely mirrored those observed in places without large Latino influxes. Any economic benefits for Latinos in new rural destinations thus have not come at the expense of African Americans.     

Non-Hispanics with Latin American ancestry: Assimilation, race, and identity among Latin American descendants in the US

In the 2006 American Community Survey (ACS), 6% of respondents with Latin American ancestry answered ‘no’ when asked whether they were Hispanic themselves. Conventional definitions of the Hispanic population exclude such respondents as ‘not Spanish/Hispanic/Latino’ even though they are self-identified Latin American descendants. Since their exclusion may bias our assessments of Hispanic social mobility, it is important to know more about them. Non-Hispanic identification is most common among Latin American descendants who (1) list both Latin American and non-Latin American ancestries, (2) speak only English, and (3) identify as White, Black, or Asian when asked about their ‘race.’ Ancestry and racial identity are considerably more influential than respondents’ education, income, place of birth, or place of residence. These findings support both traditional straight-line assimilation and a more recent “racialized assimilation” theory in explaining discrepant responses to the ethnicity and ancestry questions among Latin American descendants.     

1990年以来中国-新加坡民间关系的发展——以中国新移民与当地华人社会的互动为例

中国与新加坡建交以来,两国经济往来和文化交流日趋频繁,特别是近30万中国新移民为这种互动奠定了彼此交往的民间基础。中国新移民与新加坡华人的社会互动,说明了国家关系与民间关系互为依存,民间关系在由弱向强的转化过程中,促动了国家关系的发展。中、新两国民间交流有必要率先透过不断磨合与各种渠道,逐渐走向融汇与亲和,以国家关系发展来体现民间交流的价值。中国新移民对于民间关系和国家关系的意义和功用,不可低估。