Volume 24 - Article 12 | Pages 257-292

A summary period measure of immigrant advancement in the U.S.


Date received:	16 Dec 2009
Date published:	11 Feb 2011
Word count:	7388
Keywords:	advancement, assimilation, immigration, integration, methods, USA
DOI:	10.4054/DemRes.2011.24.12
Additional files:	Workbook

Abstract

This paper proposes a method for summarizing the pace of advancement of the foreign-born population in a given period. The method standardizes for variations in the duration of residence or age composition of immigrant groups, attainments possessed by different groups when first observed after entry, and other temporal effects on measured advances, forming an index of Expected Lifetime Advance based on the pace of change in a period. The measure is applied to Mexican and Asian immigrants. Between the 1980s and the 1990s, the rates of advancement for Mexicans accelerated in six out of seven social, economic, and civic outcomes. Rates of advancement for Asians were similar in both decades.

Author's Affiliation

John Pitkin - Analysis and Forecasting, Inc., United States of America [Email]
Dowell Myers - University of Southern California, United States of America [Email]