Are Refugees and Immigrants Different? Gauging the Correlation Between Refugee Status and Economic and Educational Success
Abstract
Little previous research has analyzed the long-term economic and educational
trajectories of refugee and immigrant arrivals in the U.S. Studies have found that
refugees
outperform immigrants in long-term earnings and economic outcomes because their inability
to
return to their countries of origin forces them to invest in country-specific human
capital. This
study revisits this research with a new methodology that increases the sensitivity
of identifying
refugees. The analysis uses American Community Survey data taken from 2001-2013 and
focuses
on immigrants and refugees who arrived in the U.S. from 1989-2000. Refugee status
was
correlated with 11-13% lower earnings relative to immigrants and lower levels of occupational
prestige for males but higher earnings and occupational prestige for females. Refugees
who
arrive as children seem to outperform immigrant children. Disadvantages stemming from
sending-country conditions may account for adult refugee under-performance relative
to
immigrants while refugee services may assist refugee children in outperforming comparablesituated
immigrants.
Type
Honors thesisPermalink
https://hdl.handle.net/10161/23860Citation
Westfall, Matthew (2015). Are Refugees and Immigrants Different? Gauging the Correlation Between Refugee Status
and Economic and Educational Success. Honors thesis, Duke University. Retrieved from https://hdl.handle.net/10161/23860.Collections
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