Crystal Medrano

                                                                                                              Crystal Medrano

                                                                                                                         521 words

Race, Ethnicity and the Quality of Life in America, 1972-2008

A previous study by Hughes and Thomas in the 1980's, about the white-black quality of life gap, was examined and replicated to seek data that included Latinos. The purpose was to take a new approach and extend the quality of life findings of three race groups white, blacks and Latinos. Hence, hypothesizing that Mexican-Latinos would have less satisfaction with their quality of life, due to significant barriers. Data was gathered from the General Social Survey of 2000-2008 to measure for any trends. Dependent variables measured were marriage and overall happiness, health perception, trust, and financial satisfaction. Independent variables from the previous study were used, with the addition of gender, religious attendance and place of birth. When analyzing the 2000-2008 data, a robust standard error strategy was used.

Results found that the measurable quality of life variables and race significantly decreased during the years and showed that in fact, attending religious services did influence Latinos happiness; something that Hughes and Thomas did not examine in their study. Latinos were categorized as "other category," and when measured with that label, it was found that whites had a higher quality of life than Latinos. Moreover, the hypothesis was not supported even when controlling for certain variables such as income and education, because of the different Latino identities. But, Latinos overall did have poorer life satisfactions than whites, decreasing the gap between whites and blacks from the previous study, due to the patterns found in the extended analysis.

           

Earnings Differentials Among Male African Immigrants in the United States

The study aimed to examine African American male immigrants of different African countries and their income earnings within the U.S. It also aimed to understand how the skills/jobs they acquire from their country over to the U.S could be used (or not) and how that affected their economic success. Two questions were asked, and they focused on the impact of their country of origin and success in the U.S and the English language disadvantage of African immigrants. To gather data, the 1990 U.S. CPH and OLS regression were used to examine 9 African groups, who were between 25 and 64 years old and categorized by either being English speaking or not English speaking.  There were many factors that were found to affect an immigrant's economic success, which were grouped into three independent variables, human capital, characteristics of employment and controlled demographic factors.

            Findings found that the number of weeks and hours worked, occupation and residence greatly impacted African immigrant's financial situation within the U.S. South Africans had the highest benefits and financial earnings than all other groups, in which they attained ten of the variables and Liberian immigrants had the least of only two. When examining the skills that English and non-English immigrants have from the country they migrate and being able to use them in the U.S, it was found that it took over five years for Cape Verde immigrants to adapt and in all, it could be seen that those that don't speak English had much more barriers, causing them to have lower wages. Therefore, the groups that understood and spoke the English language had and increased advantage of income success than those that didn't.