Child poverty across immigrant generations in the United States, 1993–2016: Evidence using the official and supplemental poverty measures

Abstract

BACKGROUND Recent increases in ethno-racial diversity in the United States are paralleled by growing representation of first-and second-generation immigrants, especially among children. Socioeconomic inequalities along the lines of immigrant generation, race, and ethnicity suggest such demographic changes may result in greater disparities among recent, more-diverse cohorts of children. OBJECTIVE Describe poverty rates among US children across five immigrant generation groups, using the US government's official poverty measure (OPM) and a supplemental poverty measure (SPM), which accounts for government transfers and costs of living. METHODS Using data from the Current Population Survey and historical SPM estimates from 1993-2016, we describe trends in child poverty, stratified by immigrant generation. We compare estimates of inter-generational differences and temporal changes based on the OPM and SPM, and we conduct stratified analyses for Hispanic and Asian children. RESULTS We find persistent differences in poverty rates between immigrant generations. Firstgeneration non-citizens and second-generation children with two foreign-born parents have consistently higher poverty rates than other generations, between which there are minimal disparities. Differences between OPM-and SPM-based estimates suggest public supports and costs of living have differential welfare effects across groups. CONTRIBUTION We provide a historical record of child poverty differentials across immigrant

The Contours and Correlates of Child Poverty Across Immigrant Generations

“…Large inter-generational disparities in child poverty have also been observed in more recent data. Thiede and Brooks (2018) find that, overall, first-generation non-citizen children and secondgeneration children with two foreign-born parents experienced much higher rates of poverty in 2015-6 (30.2% and 25.7%, respectively) than second-generation children with one foreign-born parent and third+-generation children (approximately 17% each). These recent data also suggest that race and ethnicity modify patterns of inter-generation stratification.…”

“…We then examine patterns among immigrants from other ethno-racial groups given previous evidence of racial differences in the economic circumstances of children, and inter-generational differences therein (Lichter et al 2005). For example, Asian immigrants tend, on average, to be relatively better off than other immigrant groups (Van Hook 2004;Thiede & Brooks, 2018), and black immigrant groups are often cited as being advantaged relative to their native-born counterparts (Thomas 2011). To examine these ethno-racial differences, we compare poverty rates, and the prevalence and penalties of poverty risk factors, of Hispanic immigrant generations to the third+-generation White, Asian, and Black populations.…”

“…However, policymakers currently have limited evidence to work from. A robust social science literature has documented substantial variation in social, economic, and demographic outcomes across immigrant generations (National Academies of Sciences 2016;Park & Myers 2010;Parrado & Morgan 2008;Turner & Thiede 2016), but few studies have analyzed such differences in poverty among children (for exceptions see Borjas 2011;Brooks & Thiede 2018;Jensen & Chitose 1994;Lichter et al 2005). This knowledge gap is particularly important given the long-term costs of exposure to economic disadvantage during childhood.…”

“…Importantly, these changes in ethno-racial composition have been driven by shifting patterns of immigration and fertility among immigrants (Johnson & Lichter 2008). An implication is that recent cohorts of children are characterized by increasing diversity in both race and immigrant generation (i.e., one's status as an immigrant, immediate descendent of an immigrant, or otherwise), which each operate as important axes of socioeconomic inequality in the United States (Lichter 2013;Rumbaut & Portes 2001;Thiede & Brooks 2018). These changes raise the prospect that the youngest cohorts of U.S. children will be characterized by increasingly large and complex differentials in wellbeing and opportunity.…”

“…Racial and ethnic disparities in poverty and other socioeconomic outcomes among children have been well-documented (Drake & Rank 2009;Eggebeen & Lichter 1991;Lichter et al 2015;Timberlake 2007), but considerably less attention has been placed on variation in children's economic status across immigrant generations (see Lichter et al 2005, Thiede & Brooks 2018, Van Hook et al 2004). The most recent evidence about inter-generational disparities in child poverty has simply described rather than explained these differentials (Thiede & Brooks 2018). There is furthermore little research on how the advantages and disadvantages of membership in particular ethno-racial groups intersect with immigrant generation status to shape the economic circumstances of children.…”