Urban Institute: Labor and Social Policy

Integration of Immigrants in Maryland's Growing Economy

paffairs@urban.org ( Randolph Capps, Karina Fortuny) — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 00:00:00 EST

This brief summarizes the contribution of immigrants to Maryland's workforce and trends in the workforce between 2000 and 2006. Maryland's immigrant workers are unusually highly educated and work in key skilled industries such as healthcare, information technology and the sciences. However, there are also large numbers of immigrant workers with low educational attainment and English proficiencythey largely work in construction, agriculture, and services. Education, English language, and job training programs if properly tailored to immigrants' and employers' needs could potentially raise the incomes of immigrant workers and increase their tax contributions to the state.

Globalization of R&D and Innovation: Implications for U.S. STEM Workforce and Policy : Testimony before the U.S. House Subcommittee on Technology and Innovation

paffairs@urban.org ( Harold Salzman) — Tue, 06 Nov 2007 00:00:00 EST

Dr. Harold Salzman tells a House subcommittee on innovation and technology that new perspectives on competition and new routes for sharing knowledge freely across borders have prompted firms and universities to globalize. Salzman argues that globalization is not prompted by any deficiencies in the domestic supply of trained workers, and that "techno-nationalist" policies of the past are outdated and ineffective.

Houston, Do We REALLY Have a Problem Here? : Urban Institute Report Assesses Science and Engineering in America

paffairs@urban.org ( The Urban Institute) — Tue, 30 Oct 2007 00:00:00 EST

A new Urban Institute report challenges the widely held impressions that American students score worst in the world in math and science and that their poor performance weakens the nation's high-technology workforce. Two researchers find that U.S. students do well and are gaining ground compared to math and science students abroad, with American scientists and engineers educated each year in numbers great enough to maintain the nation's technological strength.

Into the Eye of the Storm : Assessing the Evidence on Science and Engineering Education, Quality, and Workforce Demand

paffairs@urban.org ( B. Lindsay Lowell, Harold Salzman) — Mon, 29 Oct 2007 00:00:00 EST

Recent policy reports claim the United States is falling behind other nations in science and math education and graduating insufficient numbers of scientists and engineers. Review of the evidence and analysis of actual graduation rates and workforce needs does not find support for these claims. U.S. student performance rankings are comparable to other leading nations and colleges graduate far more scientists and engineers than are hired each year. Instead, the evidence suggests targeted education improvements are needed for the lowest performers and demand-side factors may be insufficient to attract qualified college graduates.

Title IV-E Funding: Funded Foster Care Placements by Child Generation and Ethnicity

paffairs@urban.org ( Tracy Vericker, Daniel Kuehn, Randolph Capps) — Mon, 07 May 2007 00:00:00 EST

The population of children of immigrants is growing rapidly, as over one fifth of all U.S. children have at least one immigrant parent. Social service systems such as child welfare are encountering large and increasing numbers of these children, but few hard data on the system involvement of children of immigrants exist. The first three briefs in the Identifying Immigrant Families with Child Welfare Systems series provide some of the first data on first-and second- generation Latin American immigrant children in out-of-home care in Texas. Overall, Latin American immigrant children and Latin American children of immigrants are underrepresented, while Hispanic children of U.S.-born parents are over-represented in the Texas child welfare system. Key child welfare system experience findings include: Placement type: only 8 percent of Latin American immigrant children in out-of-home care are living with relatives compared with 20-28 percent of U.S.-born children (both Hispanic and non-Hispanic). Removal reason: Latin American immigrants are three times more likely to be removed because of sexual abuse than children of U.S.-born parents. Title IV-E eligibility: Only 5 percent of Latin American immigrants in out-of-home care are eligible for Title IV-E reimbursement compared with over half of U.S.-born children.

The New Demography of America's Schools : Immigration and the No Child Left Behind Act

Fri, 30 Sep 2005 00:00:00 EST

U.S. schools are experiencing rapid demographic change due to high levels of immigration, while they at the same time they are implementing the federal No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act. NCLB holds schools accountable for the performance of limited English proficient (LEP) children and other groups that include many children of immigrants. This report describes the demographics of children of immigrants, and the considerable overlap among NCLB's protected groups: LEPs, low-income students, blacks, Hispanics and Asians. The report describes variations in characteristics among children with parents born in different countries, and discusses implications for NCLB implementation in high-LEP schools and districts. [View the corresponding press release]

Youth Development Approaches in Adolescent Family Life Demonstration Projects

Thu, 22 Sep 2005 00:00:00 EST

The Office of Adolescent Pregnancy Programs (OAPP/DHHS) has been encouraging its abstinence-oriented grantees to incorporate youth development strategies. It wanted to learn (1) more about the relationship between these strategies and prevention of sexual risk taking, (2) how its funded programs have combined youth development and abstinence education components, and (3) whether one could determine the independent effects of each component on youth outcomes. This report describes findings related to these issues from a comprehensive literature review, examination of grantee documents, and site visits. Recommendations focus on strengthening the usefulness of grantee year-end reports, strengthening individual grantee evaluations, and strengthening OAPP's ability to assess effectiveness across grantees.

The Family Permanent Supportive Housing Initiative : Family History and Experiences in Supportive Housing

Tue, 30 Aug 2005 00:00:00 EST

Permanent supportive housing for families (FPSH) is a relatively new undertaking throughout the country. FPSH grew from the recognition that some adults have both disabilities that render them unable to maintain stable housing on their own and also children they are trying to raise. Without substantial help, these parents have not been able to provide themselves or their children with a stable residence. This report assesses the housing stability of a sample of 100 families living in seven San Francisco FPSH programs, based on information from interviews conducted from November 2003 through April 2004. It looks at family demographics; housing and homeless history; education, employment, and income; use of services; children's living situations and well-being; and family satisfaction with housing. It also describes in detail the settings and operations of the seven FPSH programs from which the family sample was drawn.

Do Asset Limits in Social Programs Affect the Accumulation of Wealth?

paffairs@urban.org ( Henry Chen, Robert I. Lerman) — Thu, 04 Aug 2005 00:00:00 EST

In providing benefits to those without resources to support themselves, public assistance programs must define what counts as resources. Typically, programs consider assets and income in determining assistance eligibility. However, valuing assets can be difficult and asset tests create disincentives to save. In some cases, one additional dollar of assets can result in the loss of benefits worth thousands of dollars. Current practices raise two questions: are asset tests fair and do asset tests discourage asset accumulation? This brief identifies the population subject to asset tests, reviews existing research, considers strategies for meeting objectives, and offers suggestions for additional research.

The 'New' Globalization of Engineering : How the Offshoring of Advanced Engineering Affects Competitiveness and Development

paffairs@urban.org ( Leonard Lynn, Harold Salzman) — Wed, 01 Jun 2005 00:00:00 EST

This paper examines offshoring of advanced engineering to emerging economies by multinational enterprises (MNEs) through case studies of U.S. and European MNE engineering development sites in China, India, and Mexico. We assess the offshoring of core technologies, impact on MNE engineering capabilities, and degree of technology transfer to emerging economies. We find significant technology transfer to emerging economies, but MNEs are developing multiple national identities, weakening their strong national ties and technology capabilities of their home countries. Although the global state of technology will benefit, it is less certain what the country-specific impact will be on jobs and economic growth.