National Poverty Center Working Paper Series #06‐44 November, 2006 Immigrants and Neighborhoods of Concentrated Poverty: Assimilation or Stagnation? Paul A. Jargowsky, University of Texas at Dallas This paper is available online at the National Poverty Center Working Paper Series index at: http://www.npc.umich.edu/publications/working_papers/ Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the view of the National Poverty Center or any sponsoring agency. Immigrants and Neighborhoods of Concentrated Poverty: Assimilation or Stagnation?* Paul A. Jargowsky University of Texas at Dallas October 28, 2006 * Presented at “Local Contexts and the Prospects for the Second Generation,” West Coast Poverty Center, Seattle, Washington, October 20, 2006. The West Coast Poverty Center supported and encouraged this research. Helpful comments and suggestions have been provided by Kurt Beron, Marie Chevrier, Kyle Crowder, Helen Ladd, Magnus Lofstrom, Yoonhwan Park, and Alejandro Portes. I am very grateful to Jean Roth and the National Bureau of Economic Research and John Schmitt at the Center for Economic Policy Research for useful programs and utilities related to the Current Population Survey. Comments and suggestions are welcome; direct them to
[email protected]. Immigrants and Neighborhoods of Concentrated Poverty: Assimilation or Stagnation? Abstract Immigrants and their children often live, at least for a time, in neighborhoods that have high concentrations of fellow immigrants. Typically these neighborhoods also have high poverty levels are located near concentrations of the native-born poor. The conventional wisdom is that living in extremely poor neighborhoods leads to “concentration effects” that exacerbate the problems of poverty and limit economic opportunity (Wilson 1987).