Citation URL: http://www.urban.org/JaneReardonAnderson

Immigrants compose a large and growing share of U.S. workers, and of low-income working families. In 2001 immigrants were one fifth of all low-wage workers, and immigrant families were one-quarter of all low-income working families. Like other low-income families, immigrants face economic hardship and need work supports such as tax credits, food, housing assistance, health care, and child care. Immigrant families, however, are less likely to be eligible for or have access to needed benefits such as the Earned Income Tax Credit, Medicaid, Food Stamps, and child care subsidies.

This report presents a systematic review of evaluations of marriage and relationship programs. The review analyzes 39 studies representing the highest quality evidence available in the field of marriage research and finds an average effect size of .68 for improving relationship satisfaction and .26 for improving relationship communication. The studies were screened from over 12,000 marriage research abstracts and more than 500 marriage program evaluations conducted since 1960. The current review supports evidence from previous narrative reviews and meta-analyses that marriage and relationship programs provide benefits for the couples they serve.

There are 5.1 million young children of immigrants, representing 22 percent of all U.S. children under age 6. While 93 percent of these children are U.S.-born citizens, 29 percent have undocumented parents. Young children of immigrants with two parents are three times as likely to be poor as children of natives, and so marriage is not an antidote to poverty for these children. Despite higher economic hardship, young children of immigrants are less likely than native counterparts to receive TANF, food stamps, or housing assistance. They are also less likely to be in center-based child care, potentially limiting their preparation for schooling. [View the corresponding press release]

This brief summarizes the findings of the report, "The Health and Well-Being of Young Children of Immigrants", which focuses on the 5.1 million children of immigrants under age 6 in the United States. Young children of immigrants with two parents are three times as likely to be poor as children of natives, and so marriage is not an antidote to poverty for these children. Despite higher economic hardship, young children of immigrants are less likely than native counterparts to receive TANF, food stamps, or housing assistance. They are also less likely to be in center-based child care, potentially limiting their preparation for schooling.

The 2002 Farm Bill's legal immigrant eligibility restorations took place against a backdrop of high, steady levels of immigration. By the end of 2003, short-term targets for increased non-citizen participation in the Food Stamp Program had been met -- over 150,000 legal immigrants were added to the rolls across eight study states (well on schedule to meet the goal of enrolling 400,000 legal immigrants nationally by 2006). While the Farm Bill represents a significant policy success in terms of supplanting the legal immigrant restrictions of PRWORA, substantial barriers to immigrant food stamp participation remain.

The 2002 National Survey of America's Families shows that the share of low-income children who are children of immigrants increased from 22 percent in 1999 to 26 percent in 2002. The poverty rate for children of immigrants fell from 24 to 22 percent.

The authors analyze data from the 1999 National Survey of America's Families and find that immigrant families have important strengths but face significant challenges. Among the strengths: a high proportion of children of immigrants live in two-parent families compared to children of natives. While children of immigrants are more likely to live in low-income families, these families are more likely to have full-time workers than children of low-income native families. Among the challenges: Children of immigrants living in two parent families are substantially more likely to be low-income than children of natives who live in two-parent families because immigrant workers receive lower wages and the second parent is less likely to work. Children of immigrants are more likely to be in fair or poor health and not have a usual source of health care. The researchers conclude that policies intended to promote work and marriage may be less helpful to immigrants than those intended to boost income through work supports. [Read the press release]

This survey of 546 long-term welfare recipients in two California counties demonstrates great diversity in work, income, and dependency. After nearly a decade of attachment to welfare, working non-poor families achieved self-sufficiency and were out of poverty, working poor families were balancing work and welfare, and nonemployed poor families were still poor and very dependent on welfare. Almost one-third of the families studied had a spouse or partner; almost two-thirds were working; and over two-fifths were out of poverty. A connection to work, without an increase in income, was not related to having a low-risk family environment or improved health.

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