Education of immigrants in the United States

By 2000, 23% of scientists with a PhD in the U.S. were immigrants, including 40% of those in engineering and computers.[6] Roughly a third of the United States' college and universities graduate students in STEM fields are foreign nationals—in some states it is well over half of their graduate students.

In 2016, current school enrollment figures show that immigrants lag behind native-born populations in attending pre-school and K-12 education, but they proportionally outpace native-born populations in attending colleges or universities.[1]

While the trend is changing with changes in demographics, immigrants tend to be less educated than their native-born counterparts. They are significantly more likely to have less than a high school education, yet they are also slightly more likely to hold an advanced degree. Given the high education enrollment rates of immigrant populations, though, this is very likely to change in the next decade. By creating special visa programs, the Immigration Act of 1990 has increased the percentage of immigrants with a college education to about 29%. However, this number is only slightly more than 10% of the overall population.[7] Further, the US Department of Education estimates that "over 4.7 million foreign born individuals enrolled in pre-kindergarten to postsecondary education, representing 6% of the total student population. Another 20 million students are the children of foreign born parents."[8]

Number of college-educated people in the United States by Immigration Status[1]

Educational attainment for population 25+ by immigration status[1]

Many immigrants in the United States suffer from structural poverty reinforced by the education system.[9] They often settle in segregated, impoverished communities where the schools are too under-resourced to accommodate for English language learners, proven to be a significant risk factor for the educational outcomes of migrant populations.[10][11] Cultural differences in learning styles or thinking patters lead to students being mislabeled as “learning disabled” or “slow,” resulting their stratification among peers such as grade repetition or exclusion from necessary college preparation.[11][10] Further, the dominant use of high-stakes testing in United States to make educational decisions puts English language learners at a disadvantage.[12][11][13] Furthermore, those who do not support immigration often state that immigrants in public schools have a negative effect on native born children in the system. [14] This conclusion has been disproved by a study by Jennifer Hunt that shows that a minimal increase (1%) of natives in public schools increases the likelihood that native born children finish 12 years of school by .03%.[15] Policy implications affecting immigrant students in education include the lacking emphasis on bilingual and multicultural education coupled with the movement of non-immigrants to private schools, increasing the lack of public school funding to support English language learning populations.[16][17]

Immigrant populations are about 1% more female than male.[1] However, the relationship between gender and nativity is not significant overall. There are no substantial differences between Whites, Hispanics, Asians, and Multi-racial people in each given generation on educational performance. However, there are massive differences among Black immigrants, where Black women tend to perform much better than Black men in school for each successive generation.[18]

Immigrants participate in the US labor force at higher rates than their native-born counterparts, and they have a lower unemployment rate by 0.3%. ⅔ of immigrants are in the work force, as compared to 63.1% of native-born people.[1] However, this distinction is likely due to the fact that immigrants tend to be older than their native-born counterparts as a whole.

Possibly because more immigrant families are in the labor force, they have a significantly higher proportion of households earning an income and a significantly lower proportion of households collecting Social Security income. However, immigrants are more likely to collect SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) benefits, and they have a lower median household income and per-person mean earnings.[1]

Percent among recently arrived immigrants to the US by immigration status.[1]

Despite immigrants having a higher median income and collecting fewer benefits from the government, they are also more likely to report being below the poverty line.[1]

Academic research has identified an "immigrant paradox" where children of immigrants (or very young immigrants), despite sociocultural limitations, often perform better than their native-born (and native family) counterparts.[19] This is likely due to immigrants wanting to rise to their previous social standing in their country of origin.[20]

Economic inequality is a visible issue with immigrant households in the United States. Inequality is especially visible when examining a household's income. According to a 1998 study by researcher Edward Coulson, Hispanic households tend to have a higher income than black households; while Asian households tend to earn more than Anglos.[21] The reasons for this inequality can vary, however education and an influx of workers can play a role, as the number of legal immigrants in the workforce increased from 200,000 in 1948 to 700,000 in 1990.[22] One of the issues that this influx of immigrants presented is what "Economists Brian Hibbs and Gihoon Hong found[23] that immigration is responsible for about 24 percent of the increase in income inequality among U.S. metropolitan areas between 1990 and 2000".[24] A surplus of available workers can result in lower wages, especially with unskilled laborers. This can then result to the employers easily replacing their workforce. In a 2013 report for the Center for Immigration Studies, research found that a growth in numbers of immigrants entering the workforce has increased the size of the education/age group within the lower income bracket by 10% and reduces the wage of native-born men in that specific group by 3.7 percent and the wage of all native-born workers by 2.5 percent.[25] Native workers lacking a high school diploma have experienced the largest negative impact on household income as a result of immigrant workers. They make up a modest share of the workforce, and tend to be among the poorest Americans. Temporary entry visas make it difficult for most temporary workers to switch employers once in the United States, due to the number of others looking for the same type of job.[26] The number of immigrants overall has shifted dramatically throughout the past 100 years. In 1910 it was at its peak at 15% being foreign-born citizens, in 1970 it shrank to 4.7% and now has spiked to 13% in 2010. What makes the difference today is the demographic immigrating to the US. In the early 20th century, that influx of immigrants came from Southern and Eastern Europe which was closer in cultural resemblance to the developed American culture of the time as well as their labor skills being almost universal in the early factory setting. Today, "53% of immigrants are from Mexico, Central America, the Caribbean, or South America; further, about 59% of the illegal immigrant population in the United States in 2011 is from Mexico, with another 14% from El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras." Many immigrants come with poor English, low education and lack of any labor skills the American market needs.[27] Other factors that this affects is the wage that these workers are and have been paid. In 1910 the immigrants were paid a lower rate due to the lack of labor laws yet to be passed. Today's immigrants have more factors to worry about than in the past, One of the main reasons for wage gaps in native-born and foreign-born Americans is skill and experience. This had led to several other issues as listed by bls.gov such as credentials, tasks, employer, location and performance.[28]

The United States Government has introduced several programs to help fix and minimize economic inequality in immigrant households. This integration is defined by the Migration Policy Institute as a "process of economic mobility and social inclusion for newcomers and their children" and "touches upon the institutions and mechanisms that promote development and growth within society".[29] With these programs the United States government is attempting to successfully give these new citizens jobs and equal opportunities.

For children and young adults, participation in the American public school system is a significant contributor to integration. Education plays a strong role in nationhood, where a sense of unity emerges among student cohorts who go through an education system together.[30] For young migrant populations, public education serves as one of the strongest mechanisms of integration as the American education system largely focuses on "Americanization", the development of a national consciousness.[30] Some schools are affected more than others by immigration policy, specifically Title I schools. [31] Studies have shown that the higher the percentage of white students, the more difficult integration is for immigrants as they face more discrimination and hostility.[32] The study by the American Education Research Journal cites the current policy on immigration enforcement as a major source of this discord[33].

Over time, waves of immigrants have come from various parts of the world. Immediately following World War Two, nearly 60% of immigrants came from Europe. That percentage declined over time, along with immigration from Canada. In its place, immigration from Asia and Latin America rose quickly, both nearing 40% of immigration in more recent times.[34]

H1-B visas by origin[1]

The pie graph shows H1-B visas, which are used in the United States to admit skilled workers, most of whom have advanced degrees.

Immigrants are more likely to come to the United States at older ages. Compared to native-born populations, immigrants are much more likely to be in their late 30s through their 50s, whereas the native-born population has a contraction at those age groups.[35] Pew Research Center predicts that by 2050, 1/3 of all students under the age of 17 "will either be immigrants themselves or the children of at least one parent who is an immigrant."[36]

Each generation that stays in the United States experiences a decline in educational performance as it assimilates into American society. Populations often outperform their peers in the first or second generation, but the results significantly decrease after that.[18]

The vast majority of differences between native-born populations in the US and immigrant populations are due to selection effects. These effects arise because immigrants tend to start migrating in the mid-to-late twenties, so they do not have the formal education inside their new country, nor do they have longstanding networks and connections that can help them immediately find high quality positions.[1]

Immigrants often come to the United States to seek education, especially higher education. Native-born populations are more likely than immigrants to be out of school, and immigrant populations are more likely to be in school (especially public school systems). This means that significantly higher percentages of immigrants are still in school, which causes lower incomes at earlier ages. Despite the massive differences in earnings between native-born and immigrant populations at young ages, the differences become negligible at older ages. At every income level, native-born populations have an advantage, though that advantage fades at the highest income levels as well.[1]

The only significant connection to nativity status is educational attainment. Immigrants are likely to have less educational attainment than native-born citizens, though this is not related to wages, age, or gender in a significant way.