American Survey

[Thanh Dang Nguyen <nguyet1@Eng.Auburn.EDU>]

Hi folks,

Hope this recent survey conducted by The Economist may interest some 
of you!  I come to realize why I can't apply for the annual green card 
lottery this year ;-)

-Thanh

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[American Survey]
[The Economist]

For and against the foreign-born

PHILADELPHIA

WHO is an immigrant? Not, as people imagine, a young  man  hungry
for  work  and adventure. A new report by the Census Bureau shows
that the foreign-born population has roughly the same age and sex
profile as Americans as a whole, though they are less likely than
the native-born to be in work.
     The report will confirm both prejudices and  sympathies.  On
the  one  hand,  foreign-born  residents are more likely to be on
welfare and to be uneducated  (though  other  research  indicates
that  legal  immigrants  do better than illegal ones). Immigrants
are also willing to work at jobs native Americans shun, and  they
are  proportionately  more  likely  to  be highly qualified. (See
table)
     Immigrants from the Dominican  Republic,  Cuba  and  Vietnam
show the highest rates of welfare-dependence of the main national
groups: 17.9%, 12.0% and 10.1%  respectively.  Others  have  much
lower  rates. Only 1.1% and 1.7% of German and British immigrants
respectively are on welfare. This might  suggest,  as  some  have
argued,  that  there is nothing wrong with a preference for white
immigrants. A better yardstick is  education.  Indians  have  the
least  proportion  of  welfare  dependence of the major immigrant
groups -- and 29% have a graduate or professional degree.
     The 1996 welfare law bans immigrants,  legal  or  not,  from
receiving  federal  Supplemental  Security Income and food stamps
unless they become citizens. Bills seeking to reverse  this  part
of  the  law are before Congress, and immigrants have filed suits
in  several  states  against  it.  For  the  moment,  most  legal
immigrants  are  avoiding  being  cut  off.  But  it  is  a messy
situation; and it brings home, as this report will do,  the  fact
that poor immigrants can be victims as well as spongers.

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