Three years later: the adaptation process of 1980 (Mariel) Cuban and Haitian refugees in South Florida

Abstract

In recent years, southern Florida has experienced rapid new inflows of immigrants from Central America and the Caribbean. Since the arrival in 1980 of Mariel (Cuban) and Haitian immigrants to this area, a great deal of speculation has emerged as to the adaptation of these two groups to south Florida and the impact which their presence has wielded on the social and economic arenas of that region. In this paper, we present selected background characteristics of representative samples of both groups and discuss our empirical findings with regard to the labor market experiences, social networks, and educational experiences of the immigrants included in our sample. While the two groups minimally differ from earlier cohorts of their compatriots entering south Florida, their experiences since arriving in Florida have been quite different. Both the Cuban and Haitian immigrants arriving in 1980 demonstrate higher levels of unemployment than their counterparts who arrived earlier; however, the existence of the Cuban economic enclave in Miami did facilitate the entry of a greater number of Cubans than Haitians into the formal labor market. Initial evidence indicates that significant numbers of individuals from both groups participate in the informal labor market, often receiving less than the minimum wage.

The Labor Market Effects of Refugee Waves: Reconciling Conflicting Results

“…These Haitian blacks who arrived during 1980–1982 cannot be distinguished from US blacks in the data, 12 and they had extremely low incomes. Individual earnings for typical newly arrived, employed Haitian workers were $105 per week in 1983–1984 (Portes, Stepick, and Truelove 1986: 88), compared to $263 for the Borjas March CPS subpopulation of otherwise observably identical black men with less than high school in Miami during 1977–1979. This would produce a purely compositional change in earnings for black men with less than high school of −0.25 log points.…”

“… 10 The Haitians who arrived in Miami in 1980–1982 had an age distribution similar to that of the Mariel migrants. The Haitians’ principal difference was that they were much less educated and were much more likely to originate from rural areas than were the Mariel migrants (Portes, Stepick, and Truelove 1986). …”

The Labor Market Effects of Refugee Waves: Reconciling Conflicting Results

“…This compositional change could produce a spurious decline in the average wage of Miami workers with less than high school, for three reasons. The clearest reason is that Miami experienced a large influx of low-income black Haitian workers, precisely in 1980 (Portes and Stepick 1985;Stepick and Portes 1986). Almost all 15,000 of these Haitians had less than high school (Portes and Stepick 1985, 495-497), and about 6,150 were male (41%, Stepick and Portes 1986, 332).…”

“…The Haitians who arrived in Miami 1980-82 had an age distribution similar to that of the Mariel migrants. The Haitians' principal difference was that they had much less educated and were much more likely to originate from rural areas than the Mariel migrants(Portes et al 1986). 14 In the 1980 Census 5% sample microdata(Ruggles et al 2015), there are 847 observations in the Miami-Hialeah metropolitan area of black male non-Hispanics age 25-59 with less than high school who report positive income and positive weeks worked last year, living in households (pre-1990 definition) rather than group quarters.…”

“Here's Your Diploma, Mom!” Family Obligation and Multiple Pathways to Success

“…In general, Haitian children confront all the conditions that are thought to lead to downward assimilation and low educational outcomes. They confront an exceptionally negative context of reception (Stepick 1996), parents commonly have modest economic and educational attainment (Portes, Stepick, and Truelove 1986), and a relatively high proportion grow up in female-headed households (Portes, Fernández-Kelly, and Haller 2005). Moreover, most Haitians attend inner-city, low-SES schools that have extremely poor performances (see Nicholas and Severe 2008).…”