Immigrant-Native Differentials in Multiple-Earner Strategies and Household Poverty

Alexa K. Kennedy-Puthoff, University of Maryland

Using data from the Census 2000 Supplementary Survey, this paper addresses poverty at the household level and examines the role of secondary earners in alleviating that poverty. Descriptive analyses assess the extent of poverty among native- and foreign-born households as well as the prevalence of secondary earners in each household. Multivariate analyses follow Jensen's (1991) conceptualization of "amelioration," that is, the ability of secondary earners (earners other than the householder) to raise household income above the poverty line. The primary research question posed is, is the ameliorative effect of secondary earners greater in foreign-born than in native-born households?