Current Study Reveals Gap Between the Economic Status of U.S. Immigrants and U.S. Natives
Methodical collection of data about the economic state of U.S. immigrants, or the gap between them and the rest of society can be hard to come by. In addition, the multitude of immigrants, especially with the American Green Card Lottery, damages the ability to get unequivocal results. Most of the studies done on this topic focus on a certain region or state, which does not enable researchers to reach an equivocal conclusion regarding the immigrant population in the United States.
Nonetheless, the U.S. Department of Commerce assembles data about the status of U.S. residents that were born abroad, making special reference to those that were born abroad, yet underwent U.S. immigration within the last 9 years, including those that won the American Green Card Lottery. Based on the information from the U.S. Department of Commerce, Ali Bergman, Statistics Analyst of Americagreencard.org, conducted a study of the United States in its entirety as of April 2007. From the updated data comes the following situation report:
- 48.6% of the residents that were born abroad underwent U.S. immigration from 1990 onward.
- 80.4% of the residents that were born abroad are of working age (18-64), as opposed to 60% of U.S. natives.
- 25.5% of households where the providers were born abroad have 5 or more family members, twice the number of households of U.S. natives that size, which is 12.5%. This indicates greater natural reproduction, but also a greater inclination to manage more complex households, which are not necessarily from nuclear families. This is caused by traditional customs in the native countries of the immigrants, in order to economize and create a family support system.
- U.S. immigrants are usually less educated than the native population: 21.9% of immigrants have less than 9 years of education (as opposed to 4.4% of U.S. natives); 10.9% of immigrants have 9-12 years of education without a diploma (as opposed to 8.7% of U.S. natives); 40.7% of immigrants have graduated from high school and pursued higher education without a diploma (as opposed to 60.1% of U.S. natives). Regarding those that hold academic degrees, there is relative equality – 26.5% of immigrants have a Bachelor's degree (B.A.) and above, as opposed to 26.8% of U.S. natives. Education varies in accordance with the native country – U.S. immigrants from Europe and Asia are the most educated, while immigrants from Latin America are the least educated.
- 6.9% of U.S. immigrants are unemployed, as opposed to 6.1% of U.S. natives.
