Underemployment across Immigrant Generations

Leif Jensen, Pennsylvania State University
Tim Slack, Pennsylvania State University

The employment circumstances of immigrants and their children constitute a key dimension along which immigrant adaptation to the U.S. economy and labor market can be evaluated. The purpose of this paper is to describe and analyze employment adequacy -- defined as underemployment -- among the first, second, and third (or higher) immigrant generations. We analyze concatenated files from the March CPS for the nine years spanning 1994-2002 to answer the following exploratory research questions. How does the prevalence of underemployment vary across immigrant generations, and between race/ethnic groups within immigrant generations, and can this variation be accounted for by differences in socioeconomic and demographic composition? Are there discernible trends over time in the prevalence of underemployment among immigrant generations? Are there particular forms of underemployment to which immigrant groups are especially susceptible? Finally, how do first, second, and third generation youth compare in the severity and etiology of underemployment?