Quote of the Day, June 20, 2012
Children in immigrant families experience a much higher poverty rate than children with U.S.-born parents. Consistent with their median family income, and despite high levels of parental employment and similar levels of secure parental employment, children in immigrant families overall experienced a federal poverty rate of 30 percent, compared to 19 percent for children with U.S.-born parents in 2010, for a difference of 11 percentage points.
The gap separating children in immigrant families and with U.S.-born parents was 12 percentage points in 1994, and this narrowed greatly to 7 to 8 percentage points in 1999- 2005 because of greater poverty declines for children in immigrant families. But then the gap expanded rapidly from 5 percentage points in 2006 to 11 percentage points in 2010, because children in immigrant families experienced greater poverty increases, reflecting their greater decline in secure parental employment during the economic recession. If trends since 2006 continue, the immigrant disadvantage will continue to grow.
– an excerpt from the Foundation for Child Development’s report in Children in Immigrant Families: Essential to America’s Future. The report finds that children from immigrant families have a lower level of overall well-being than children born with U.S.-born families.
The report also finds that:
- 66 percent of children in immigrant families live with at least one securely employed parent, only three percentage points less than children with U.S.-born parents, at 69 percent.
- 30 percent of children in immigrant families live below the federal poverty level, compared to 19 percent of children with U.S.-born parents.
- 25 percent of children in immigrant families do not graduate high school, versus 18 percent of children with U.S.-born parents.
- Only 7 percent of children who are Dual Language Learners become proficient in reading in English by the end of third grade, versus 37 percent for students whose first language is English.
- Children who are Dual Language Learners are only one-third as likely as English Only Learners to be proficient in mathematics by the end of the third grade (14 percent versus 44 percent).
- 15 percent of children in immigrant families are not covered by health insurance, compared to 8 percent of children with U.S.-born parents.
- Only 25 percent of children with immigrant parents are living in a one-parent family, compared to 30 percent of children with U.S.-born parents.
(Taken from http://fcd-us.org/node/1232)
