CDHA CAAR

A. “Family Sponsorship and Late-Age Migration in Aging America,” by Marta Tienda and Stacie Carr (April 2012, .pdf format, 31p.).

Abstract:

We use the Immigrants Admitted to the United States (micro-data) supplemented with special tabulations from the Department of Homeland Security to examine how family reunification impacts the age composition of new immigrant cohorts since 1980. We develop a family migration multiplier measure for the period 1981 to 2009 that improves on prior studies by including IRCA immigrants and relaxing unrealistic assumptions required by synthetic cohort measures. Results show that every 100 initiating immigrants admitted between 1981-85 sponsored an average of 260 family members; the comparable figure for initiating immigrants for the 1996-2000 cohort is 345 family members. Furthermore, the number of family migrants ages 50 and over rose from 44 to 74 per 100 initiating migrants. The discussion considers the health and welfare implications of late-age migration in a climate of growing fiscal restraint and an aging native population.

wws-roxen.princeton.edu/chwpapers/papers/Paper_Carr%20and%20Tienda_Family%20Sponsorship%20and%20Late-Age.pdf

B. “Age at Immigration and the Incomes of Older Immigrants, 1994 to 2010,” by Marta Tienda and Kevin O’Neil (April 2012, .pdf format, 22p.).

Abstract:

Immigrants who enter the United States later in life comprise a growing share of legal permanent resident admissions. Due to their short working lives in the US and barriers to obtaining earned and means-tested public benefits since 1996, late-age immigrants may be at significant economic disadvantage relative to their counterparts who immigrate at younger ages. Using data on immigrants aged 65 and above from the 1994 to 2010 Current Population Surveys, we show that late-age immigration is associated with significantly lower personal incomes and lower participation in Social Security and Medicare, both of which have minimal work requirements. Entry at an older age is also associated with higher rates of participation in means-tested benefit programs, such as Supplemental Security Income (SSI) and Medicaid. For older immigrants, entry after the 1996 welfare reform law is associated with lower personal incomes and lower rates of receipt of SSI and Medicaid; however, we find only modest differences between pre- and post 1996 entrants in the relationship between age at entry and economic outcomes in older age.

wws-roxen.princeton.edu/chwpapers/papers/Paper_ONeil%20and%20Tienda_AgeImmigrationApril18.pdf