Economic Progress

Over the last two decades, the United States has witnessed its biggest wave of immigration since the late 19th century. Today’s immigrants have settled in many more communities across the country, including some that received few immigrants in the past. The diversity of these destination communities means that recent immigrants’ experiences and effects vary widely.

Join us as a distinguished panel discusses the implications of immigration’s mix and magnitude. How are metropolitan communities affected by and adapting to the influx of immigrants -- and the children of immigrants? What new challenges and opportunities confront local, state, and federal policy?

Foreign-born workers, spanning all skill levels, are a significant part of the U.S. workforce. But in the midst of a weak economy beset by many pockets of double-digit unemployment, some policymakers are concerned that low-skilled immigrants take jobs away from their native-born counterparts. Others contend the United States is losing its competitive edge by limiting the entrance of high-skilled foreign workers

This paper reviews the evidence on the effects of less-skilled immigration to the U.S., and considers the implications of this evidence for immigration reform ideas. It begins with a review of the costs of less-skilled immigration, in terms of competition to native-born American workers and fiscal costs; as well as the benefits of such immigration in the form of lower prices to consumers, higher profits for employers, and greater efficiency for the U.S. economy. The paper then reviews various reform ideas that have been proposed in Congress in recent years, and also considers a range of other ideas, that would likely raise the net benefits associated with less-skilled immigration to the U.S.

This data brief is the fourth in a series that profiles children of immigrants using up-to-date census data and other sources. The first brief highlighted the fast growth of the immigrant population and important demographic trends. The second described the family circumstances of children of immigrants, and the third highlighted the circumstances of young children age 0 to 8. The current brief focuses on immigrant families' incomes, economic well-being, food insecurity, and use of public benefits.

The Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) and the National School Lunch Program (NSLP) have no eligibility restrictions based on the legal status of immigrants. This study reveals an increase in the number and share of immigrants and their children in WIC and NSLP between the mid-1990s and 2006; however, their share of participants is generally comparable to their shares of the eligible populations. Findings suggest that immigrants face fewer barriers to access in WIC and NSLP than they do for TANF, SNAP, and other benefits subject to immigration-related eligibility restrictions.

Urban Institute researchers are available to help reporters delve into the Census Bureau’s new poverty numbers, to be released Thursday, September 16. To speak with an Urban Institute expert, contact Simona Combi at 202-261-5709 or scombi@urban.org.

Immigration policy and reform debates test our ability to think about what's at stake when we open (and close) our doors to a diverse range of newcomers, and how ongoing immigration affects our future. As the debate on how immigrant workers and families continue to reshape the country gathers steam, the public is often misled about the challenges and opportunities stemming from policies about who can come to (and stay in) the US.

More than one in five children in the United States has at least one immigrant parent. This fact sheet highlights key demographics on this growing population.