Posted on 12/07/2020 12:48:08 PM PST by SJackson
LAWRENCE – President Donald Trump may have nearly ended the flow of refugees and other African immigrants to the United States, but a new study shows that at least those from Nigeria are well-educated, hardworking and contribute more to society than they cost the American social security system. The paper contrasts Nigerian newcomers with those from Somalia, whose work ethic is similarly strong, but whose lack of education hurts their employment prospects here.
The authors argue that Americans should “reconsider the treatment of African immigrants as a collective group, as this obscures differences between immigrants from different African countries and the ways they adjust to life in the U.S.”
Abel Chikanda, assistant professor of African & African American studies and geography, and a KU doctoral student, Julie Morris, are the co-authors of a paper published this spring in the journal African Geographical Review. In it, they compare and contrast the incorporation (they prefer that term to “integration”) of immigrants from two African nations – Nigeria and Somalia – using data from the 2017 American Community Survey of the U.S. Census Bureau.
Chikanda, who was born in Zimbabwe, said he had long noted that those outside Africa tend to regard all African immigrants as part of the same group, ignoring the fact that there are 55 countries on the continent.
“I wanted to challenge this notion of treating African immigrants as one unified entity,” Chikanda said, “so I purposefully chose two groups — the Nigerians, who have a long immigration history, and then the other group from Somalia. They are coming from a war-torn country as refugees. They don't have high levels of education, and they have another handicap of being Muslim. So I wanted to see how these two distinct African groups are formed when they enter into U.S. society.”
Since 1980, immigrants from Africa have formed an ever-larger percentage of immigrants to the United States, at least through 2017, when the president’s travel ban from mostly Muslim countries took effect. Today, Africans comprise 5.1% of all immigrants to the United States.
And while there are differences among people from various African countries, when considered as a whole, the authors write, “Compared to the U.S. population, the African-born immigrant population is generally more youthful with 81.3% falling in the 18-64 age group, compared to 61.8% for the national population.”
Their relative youth is one reason why these immigrants are net contributors to American society, the authors wrote. They are “likely to exert less pressure on the country’s pension and social security system. In the absence of significant barriers to employment opportunities, African-born immigrants are strategically positioned to make a net positive contribution to the country’s social security system.”
And while relatively lower levels of development in Africa lead Americans to assume that African immigrants are less well-educated, “Data from the ACS shows that African-born immigrants aged 25 and over possess high levels of education comparable to, if not better than, the average American population.”
Refugees who flee to the country are expected to be self-sufficient within six months of arriving – when government benefits run out, Chikanda said. Thus, perhaps it should not be surprising that data from the ACS show that “the labor force participation rates of African-born immigrants are higher than that of the foreign-born population and the general U.S. population,” the authors wrote.
The “participation rate” is the number of employed and unemployed-but-looking as a percentage of the population ages 16 years and over.
The rate for African immigrants, the study found, was roughly 73%, or about 10 percentage points greater than for native-born Americans. This makes sense because the immigrants almost never have the generational family wealth or high-earning spouse that permits some Americans to avoid working.
Even if higher rates of labor force participation do not automatically translate to higher rates of employment, the gap between immigrants and the U.S.-born population held true in 2017, the study found.
The authors wrote: “Overall, African-born immigrants aged 16 and over have a higher rate of employment (69.2%) relative to the foreign-born population (63.1%) and the general US population (59.9%).”
The study also notes significant differences between Nigerian immigrants, who mostly come from that country’s south, and Somalis. For one thing, with its history of British colonization, many more Nigerians speak English upon arrival in the U.S. than do Somalis. That makes the Nigerians’ transition easier in almost every respect.
“For the Nigerian-born immigrants, the proportion that possesses at least a bachelor's degree is 60.5%,” Chikanda said. “But when we look at the Somali-born population ... that's about 15%.”
That higher level of education and English skill has translated into better jobs – a significant percentage of them managerial — for the Nigerian immigrants, Chikanda said.
Social service agencies across the country have found themselves with few refugees to resettle under the Trump administration, resulting in cuts to their funding and staff, Chikanda said. But if there is a bright side to the restrictions on newcomers, he said, it is that resettlement agencies can devote more time to helping those who made it to these shores.
The article, and you can find a number of similar studies with similar results, clearly disproves the accusation of structural racism in the US, and evidenced by unequal outcomes. Were this the case, why do Nigerian immigrants, and many from others, excel. Could it possibly be higher levels of education than the average American population? Rather than the color of their skin. In the case of Nigeria, English fluency? A desire to improve their lives in the US? Could we benefit by stressing the value of education and ambition in our own minority and poor neighborhoods? Even cohesive American value rather than racial division?
So we should trade?
In IT I’ve worked with a fair number of black people. Almost all of the good ones were raised outside the US.
racist study. /s
wait both groups are black.
My friend from Kenya would respond to American Blacks when they refer to him as brother or the N-word: I ain’t your brother or I ain’t your n-word. Educated Black people from African look down on uneducated Black Americans.
This has been a thing for a long time. Blacks immigrants from the Caribbean and African frequently do better than blacks born here.
My general theory is that we are not comparing apples and apples here. The immigrants tend to be some of the best their countries their countries have to offer.
My daughter’s boyfriend is Nigerian; he is a great guy and smart as a whip, as three college degrees (two in engineering from Stanford), kind, polite to a fault and respects his elders. He is caring for his elderly mother here in the states.
My experience with African people is that they don’t have a gigantic chip on their shoulders. Freed from that, they can go as far as they want in life.
It’s been my observation that most African immigrants are pleasant and hard working people (besides Somalians ). Doesn’t mean I want them in my country though
America needs a 20 year moratorium on all immigration.
From everywhere.
A former neighbor of mine was from Liberia.
He disliked American blacks, and said they were ‘lazy’..................
My boss in the tax dept at Nike was from Eritrea. He had to escape for fear for his life when the current dictator took over and he spent time in Sudan then made it to the USA. Upon arrival California told him to take a job as a dishwasher because then he wouldn’t make too much to cancel his welfare. Despite being shamed by the state (don’t you want to take care of your family?) he refused welfare, worked up to 3 jobs, got his degree and moved up the ladder in life. He told me that 30 years later people who arrived when he did and took the dishwasher jobs are still dishwashers.
He has a wonderful successful family, educated and hard working. He never spent time being a victim and would tell me that there is no other country like this and so often I’d hear him say “I am blessed”.
I agree, we're not. But perhaps we should be encouraging minority apple communities here to stress the values minority immigrant apples possess. Education, ambition, English language whether learned or native. Then they can succeed and be among our best.
No. And in many cases, don’t want them bringing their culture here. My opinion only, the culture in many urban minority communities is already dysfunctional enough, particularly relative to violence. Don’t need to add to it, it would be nice to change it.
A boon to corporate America. The pool of qualified minorities gets bigger.
Them being a success in their country is also not hampered by the "acting white" slur that pervades much of the black American culture.
In their home countries, being smart and well-educated is not looked down upon as "acting white".
Someone from the Caribbean told me this -- a dirt poor person from shanty town becomes a doctor, scientist, what have you -- the persons who still live in that shanty town have nothing but praise for that successful person.
Compare that to the USA, where you hear blacks say things like "he's acting white", "who does he think he is"? etc. when someone from their "hood" becomes successful.
Big difference in general attitude.
With a few exceptions, those already in the system, limited family members, and legitimate refugees, that would make sense. As well as settling those who are self supportive but here illegally with work permits without a path to citizenship. Criminals and those not self supportive, good bye.
The “Talented Tenth”, as they’re called.
That is a great idea, but we have people in this country pushing debased vocabulary and grammar as ‘ebonics’ and a ‘culture’ of fatherless children.
Abolish the cap on social security payments from 65K to infinity.
Make them pay approximately %6 on their personal earnings to social security. Their fair share. Why not? Problem solved.
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