Socioeconomic Diversity Among African Immigrants in the United States: An Intra-African Immigrant Comparison

Abstract

Recent studies on Black immigrants in the USA report higher than average socioeconomic and educational attainment for African immigrants. Based on an intra-African immigrant comparison, we examine the generalizability of this finding to African groups of differing countries and regions using data from the 1990 and 2000 5 % U.S. census Integrated Public Use Microdata Samples (IPUMS). We specifically ask whether hourly earnings of African immigrants vary by region of origin. Results of our analyses reveal that sending region is an important determinant of variations in hourly earnings among African immigrants. Also, data indicate that both race and gender are significantly associated with earning outcomes; with the earnings of males and whites significantly higher than those of females and blacks. We discuss these findings in the context of the so-called "black immigrant success story."

Socioeconomic Achievement Among Arab Immigrants in the USA: The Influence of Region of Origin and Gender

“…An important finding of our study is the seemingly intersectional ways in which region of origin and gender structure the nature of earnings among Arab immigrants in the USA. Unlike earlier findings from other immigrant groups (Kusow et al 2016), region of origin does not appear to significantly affect earnings in our study. This finding may reflect that the act of immigration has a leveling effect.…”

“…We draw on Suzanne Model's (2008; see also Kusow et al 2016) argument that a more meaningful understanding of immigrant achievement in the USA requires moving beyond the traditional pan-ethnic aggregate analyses to carry out an intra-immigrant comparison. Such an understanding, we believe, is very important in that geography or the economic, social, and political context of emigration is an important framework for understanding variation in labor market outcomes among Arab immigrants in the USA.…”

“…We join the recent literature that disaggregates pan-ethnic groups to include the impact of region of origin and gender on Arab immigrant earnings (Model, 2008;Kusow et al 2016) while controlling for human capital variables including education. The intra-Arab region comparison is important for a number of reasons, including the fact that different regions of the Arab world under consideration have different levels of economic development and different push factors.…”

Second-Generation Outcomes of the Great Migration

“…Muted economic success for first-generation migrants during the Great Migration could cohere with the larger narrative concerning international immigration and generational advancement. International immigrants and black southern-born migrants during the Great Migration share many similarities, including the tendency for both groups of migrants to be positively selected (Dodoo 1997;Dustman et al 2012;Feliciano 2005;Kusow et al 2016;Min and Jang 2015). Moreover, despite this positive selection, the returns to education and training acquired in the place of origin of both groups of first-generation migrants are less than expected (Akresh 2006;Boustan 2016;Dodoo 1997).…”

Racism Does Not Cause Prostate Cancer, It Causes Prostate Cancer Death

“…There is no reason to believe that racism is experienced differently depending on geographical origin in men who appear Black, and there is no evidence that secondary effects of racism, such as depressed socioeconomic status, differ by West versus East African ancestry. 22 Although the end point here is mortality, not incidence, clearly large differences in one imply large differences in the other. The mortality end point is, incidentally, a possible explanation for the difference between African American population and recent immigrants from West and Central Africa: Mortality is affected by medical care, and African immigrants generally Generic mutations associated with prostate cancer have been identified that are only found in men of West African ancestry, a group that includes the majority of US Black men have higher socioeconomic status and thus access to good medical care than the African American population.…”