Socioeconomic Status Of Immigrants

In the last quarter century, the United State's policy on immigration has become a widely debated issue for many native-born American citizens. However, the issue does not lie with the number of immigrants coming to America or the policies that allow them to come here but rather what Americans are really concerned with is if immigrants are assimilating into the American culture. According to a Pew Research Center survey done in 2017, when respondents were asked what makes someone “truly American”, around 90 percent said a person could not be “truly American” unless they spoke English. Additionally, 85 percent said it was important to “share American customs and traditions” (Stokes). In other words, Americans do not believe immigrants have

A majority of immigrants come to America in search of job opportunities and a better life for their families. In turn, immigrants do not have the education or money when they come to America that is necessary to attain a good socioeconomic status. Immigrants can improve their socioeconomic status by attaining a college degree because most high earning jobs require a college degree. Another way that immigrants improve their socioeconomic status is by learning English. Immigrants that speak English are often bilingual and thus have more economic opportunity than those who are not. First generation immigrants tend to have the most difficulty improving their socioeconomic status because they have to make ends meet. According to a study done by the Center of Immigration Studies, “the poverty rate for adult immigrants overall is 18.5 percent — 61 percent higher than for native-born adults”(Camarota). This indicates the disparity between most immigrants socioeconomic status and native-born Americans socioeconomic status. However, the children of first generation immigrants, second generation immigrants, typically are able to go to college and are also fluent in English, so they have a much better chance at attaining a similar socioeconomic status to most native-born Americans. Attaining a socioeconomic status that is similar to most native born Americans can

Most immigrants start off by living in close proximity to other immigrants of similar race or ethnicity. An immigrant that lives in a clustered area, like Chinatown, with similar groups of ethnicities and races is considered to be a signal for a lower level of assimilation. Immigrants that live in an area where they are the minority population is considered to be a higher level of assimilation. One way that immigrants can achieve geographic distribution is by intermarriage. Intermarriage typically leads to living in a different area that is not clustered area surrounded by similar ethnicity or race as the individual. Another way that immigrants are able to achieve geographic distribution is receiving economic opportunities. Just like any American, opportunities are an important factor in why an individual would move. Both of the ways that geographic distribution is achieved, intermarriage and economic opportunities, can take generations. It can be expected that geographic distribution, if not achieved early on in the assimilation process, can be the toughest and the last step in an immigrant’s assimilation process into American