National origin and immigrant welfare recipiency

The Economic Benefits from Immigration

T he rapid increase in the size of the immigrant flow reaching the United States, the major changes in the national origin composition of the immigrant population, and the decline in the skills of immigrants relative to the skills of native workers have rekindled the debate over immigration policy. The current debate revives the old concerns over immigrants "taking jobs away" from native worker...

The Effect of Child Care Costs on the Labor Force Participation and Welfare Recipiency of Single Mothers: Implications for Welfare Reform

This paper considers the effect of child care costs on two labor market outcomes for single mothers—whether to participate in the labor market and whether to receive welfare. Hourly child care expenditures are estimated for all women in the sample (using data drawn from the 1992 and 1993 panels of the SIPP), whether or not they are currently using nonmaternal child care. These expenditures are ...

Welfare and the Children of Immigrants: Transmission of Dependence or Investment in the Future?

The public concern that immigrant families might be using a disproportionate share of social benefits and transmitting some form of public dependency to their children, combined with the rising levels of immigrants entering the country, fueled the passage of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act in 1996, which limited public assistance to many immigrant families. T...

Estimating the Impact of the Increased Earnings Capacity from a Secondary Education on the Future Welfare Recipiency of Female Dropouts

Data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth are used to empirically isolate the impact of a secondary education on the long-term welfare participation of young female dropouts. A high school diploma or General Educational Development (GED) degree is assumed to influence welfare recipiency by increasing earnings capacity. Yet, causality may run in both directions. Although an exogenous i...

Welfare Reform’s Chilling Effects on Non-citizens: Changes in Non-citizen Welfare Recipiency or Shifts in Citizenship Status?