Though immigrant education levels have dramatically increased over the past decade, immigrants’ socioeconomic status is virtually unchanged, according to a report by the Center for Immigration Studies.
“The share of newly arrived immigrants with at least a college degree increased from 34 percent in 2007 to 49 percent in 2017; and the share without a high school diploma fell from 34 percent to 16 percent,” authors Steven Camarota and Karen Zeigler wrote in Better Educated, but Not Better Off. “Despite the dramatic increase in new immigrants’ education levels, the share of new immigrants in the labor force (working or looking for work) was 73 percent in 2007 and 67 percent in 2017.”
Noting that poverty rates vary depending on the state of the economy, the report put the poverty rate for recent immigrants about 2 percent higher than it was in 2007, at a rate of 20.7 percent. Native population poverty rates have grown a little more than a percent over the same time, and are currently at 10.1 percent.
The median annual income for recent immigrants is about half that of the native population at $18,402.
One of the biggest increases noted in the report was use of food stamps. In 2007, about 4.3 percent of recent immigrants received food stamps. In 2017 that number had exploded to 12.7 percent. That rise was similar to that of the native population, which increased from 5.7 percent of the population in 2007 to 10.3 percent in 2017.
From workforce participation to poverty rates and benefits such as Medicaid use, the report provided three possible reasons why the rising education rates have not improved the lot of many recent arrivals.
“In short, economy-wide factors likely explain some of the failure of new immigrants to convert their higher education levels into greater prosperity,” the report stated. The report also cited the fact that despite a better education, immigrants’ “marketable skills” have possibly declined compared to native-born individuals with similar education levels. A third factor the authors cited was that the share of female immigrants in 2007 was 46 percent and in 2017 was 53 percent, as women—immigrants as well as native born—tend to work less and earn less than their male counterparts.
The report also mentioned factors that the authors believed were not contributors to the numbers. These include the fact that there had not been a rapid illegal immigration surge, the number of new arrivals in 2017 was “only slightly larger” than that of 2017, and guest worker/student arrivals haven’t really increased between 2007 and 2017. But authors admit that more analysis is needed.
“At this point, all we can say is that new immigrants are much more educated than they were a decade ago and that this increase has not resulted in a convergence in their labor force attachment, income, or welfare use with natives,” the report said. “Of course, it is certainly possible that as new immigrants live in the United States longer and become more established, their higher education levels will lead to a more rapid improvement in their situations.”
Access the entire report here.
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