Leif Jensen

The Enclave and the Entrants: Patterns of Ethnic Enterprise in Miami before and after Mariel

Four hypotheses concerning the character and consequences of participation in an ethnic enclave economy are examined. The first concerns the justifiability of operationalizing enclave participation on the basis of place of residence, as done in recently published research. The second and third pertain to the effects of ethnic economy participation on entrepreneurs and workers, respectively. The fourth deals with determinants of self-employment among ethnic minorities. Two data sets are employed in this analysis: the 1980 Census individual sample for Cuban-born adult immigrants in South Florida and a 1983-86 longitudinal survey of Mariel entrants in the same area. These two independent data sets permit a more authoritative evaluation of the hypotheses. They also allow an assessment of the extent to which earlier findings about the pre-1980 Cuban-born population apply to the more recent entrants. Results consistently contradict depictions of ethnic enterprise as vehicles for exploitation and of enclaves as mere residential agglomerations. These structures are defined by physical proximity of firms, not dwellings. Ascriptive factors-primarily gender and marital status-play a decisive role in the emergence of enclave enterprise net of human capital endowments. Theoretical implications of these findings, in particular the relationship between intact nuclear families and the rise of an entrepreneurial minority, are discussed.

A Critical Review of Rural Poverty Literature: Is There Truly a Rural Effect?

Poverty rates are highest in the most urban and most rural areas of the United States and are higher in nonmetropolitan than metropolitan areas. Yet perhaps because only one-fifth of the nations 35 million poor people live in nonmetro areas, rural poverty has received less attention than urban poverty from both policy makers and researchers. The authors provide a critical review of literature that examines the factors affecting poverty in rural areas. The authors focus on studies that explore whether there is a rural effect, that is, whether there is something about rural places above and beyond demographic characteristics and local economic context that makes poverty more likely in those places. The authors identify methodological concerns (such as endogenous membership and omitted variables) that may limit the validity of conclusions from existing studies that there is a rural effect. The authors conclude with suggestions for research that would address these concerns and explore the processes and institutions in urban and rural areas that determine poverty, outcomes, and policy impacts.

Underemployment in America: Measurement and Evidence

An important way in which employment hardship has come to be conceptualized and measured is as underemployment. Underemployment goes beyond mere unemployment (being out of a job and looking for work), to include those who have given up looking for work, part-time workers whose employer(s) cannot give them full-time work, and the working poor. To provide needed background for the other articles in this special issue, we trace the history of the concept of underemployment, review existing empirical literature, offer a critique of the measurement of underemployment as conventionally operationalized, and provide up-to-date evidence on the trends and correlates of underemployment in the United States.

Today's Second Generation: Evidence from the 1990 U.S. Census.

The prospects for todays second generation will be considerably shaped by their current social, economic and demographic status. This article provides a statistical portrait of children of immigrants by analyzing data from the 1990 U.S. Census of Population and Housing. With the second generation defined as children under age 18 with at least one foreign-born parent, the study describes place of residence; household demographic, social and economic circumstances; household heads socioeconomic status; and characteristics of children themselves. Data on second-generation children are broken down by year of immigration of parents and childs nativity. Data for children with native-born parents are provided for comparison.

School Attendance in Nigeria: Understanding the Impact and Intersection of Gender, Urban-Rural Residence, and Socioeconomic Status

International development agencies, policy makers, and scholars alike have often promoted and emphasized the importance of formal education for children in developing countries. Education is regarded as essential, given its countless economic and noneconomic benefits (Haveman and Wolfe 2001; Post 2002). Moreover, formal education is considered particularly important for girls and women, since it leads to higher age at first marriage, greater knowledge of family planning, reduced family size, and greater access and openness to prenatal care during pregnancy (Haveman and Wolfe 2001; UNESCO 2008). While the economic and social benefits of formal education are widely known, as of 2006, approximately 72 million school-age children in developing countries were not in school, with 35 million of these children residing in sub-Saharan Africa (UNESCO 2008). Nigeria, the focus of this research, has 8 million school-age children out of school, the highest number in subSaharan Africa (UNESCO 2008). Also noteworthy for our purposes, research conducted in various developing countries suggests that the children who are not in school are disproportionately female, impoverished, and rural. In some instances, these children are doubly disadvantaged if they are female and belong to poor families or if they are female and reside in rural areas. These children are less likely to acquire the benefits of education as they transition into adulthood. The Program of Action of the 1994 International Conference on Pop-

Secondary earner strategies and family poverty: immigrant-native differentials, 1960-1980.

Since the mid-1960s, the United States has witnessed a new wave of immigration that has been characterized by dramatic increases in both the number of new arrivals entering to be reunited with kin and the flows from Asian and Latin American countries. The new immigration has given rise to concern that the United States is welcoming far too many people destined for the bottom of the socioeconomic ladder. These fears run contrary to the traditional image of immigrants as being willing to make sacrifices via labor force commitment in order to prosper economically. To address these issues, this article studies immigrant-native differentials in the ability of secondary earners (family earners other than the family head) to lift families out of poverty. Using both descriptive and multivariate techniques to analyze the 1960, 1970 and 1980 U.S. Census Public Use Samples, it compares immigrant and native families among four key race groups: white, black, Hispanic and Asian. It is shown that the ameliorative impact of secondary earners is greater for immigrant than native families; that this generalization holds for whites, blacks and Hispanics but not Asians; and that the immigrant advantage in ameliorative effects vis-a-vis natives declined noticeably over the 1960–1980 period for all but Asian families. The implications of these results for the overall trend in poverty among immigrants is discussed.

Will workfare work? Job availability for welfare recipients in rural and urban America

Ongoing concern over welfare dependency has stimulated the US Government to enact welfare reform legislation that features work requirements. Under the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996, millions of able-bodied welfare recipients will now be expected to find work within two years. We analyze data from the March 1994 Current Population Survey to address the neglected question of whether a sufficient number of jobs will be available for those looking for work. Using two methods to estimate job availability, and a variety of assumptions about which welfare recipients will be required to work, we estimate that as few as 18 and as many as 54 welfare recipients and other unemployed individuals would be competing for each available job. Separate analyses by residence provided equivocal evidence on whether metropolitan or nonmetropolitan welfare recipients will have the more difficult time finding gainful employment.

Dominican Immigrants and Discrimination in a New Destination: The Case of Reading, Pennsylvania

The last decade has witnessed the diversification of immigrant destinations in the United States. Although the literature on this phenomenon is burgeoning, research on the experiences of smaller immigrant groups in new destinations is underdeveloped. This is especially the case for those from the Dominican Republic, a group that is expanding beyond the traditional gateway cities of the Northeast. Using a survey of Dominican immigrants in Reading, Pennsylvania, this study has two objectives. the first objective is to describe the prevalence of experiences with institutional and interpersonal discrimination. the second objective is to determine the extent to which these experiences are structured around racial markers (i.e., skin tone), forms of capital, forms of incorporation, and exposure to the United States. Our results show that a substantial minority of Dominican immigrants claims to have been treated unfairly, primarily because of their “race and ethnicity.” in addition, experiences with some types of discrimination are positively associated with skin tone (i.e., darkness) and several factors that are identified in models of assimilation.

Employment hardship and rural minorities: Theory, research, and policy

Rural racial and ethnic minorities are among the poorest of all Americans. This article situates their plight both theoretically and empirically in the context of employment hardship. Defined by access to employment and job quality, employment hardship is more prevalent among nonmetropolitan African Americans, Hispanics, and Native Americans than it is among either their central city counterparts or non-Hispanic whites. The strengths and limitations of both individuallevel frameworks (e.g., human capital) and macro-level theories (e.g., uneven development) in explaining the economic double jeopardy faced by rural minorities are discussed. Policy recommendations designed to ameliorate employment hardship are presented.

Student Involvement in Wellness Policies: A Study of Pennsylvania Local Education Agencies

OBJECTIVE Explore student-involvement goals in local wellness policies (LWPs) of local education agencies (LEAs) in Pennsylvania (PA) and investigate associations with LEA characteristics. DESIGN An observational study that helped examine student-involvement goals. SETTING Public PA LEAs. PARTICIPANTS LWPs submitted by 539 PA public LEAs. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Six student-involvement goals analyzed as dependent variables. Correlations between demographic and policy characteristics of LEAs and student-involvement goals were measured. ANALYSIS Policies developed by LEAs were abstracted and analyzed. Logistic regression models were developed to analyze relationships between student-involvement goals and the demographic and policy characteristics of LEAs. RESULTS Majority of LEAs included policy goals that address student involvement in an array of activities related to wellness policy, food service, and role modeling. Regression models showed that LEAs with comprehensive and strong policies were most likely to include student-involvement goals regardless of LEA location, enrollment, or socioeconomic status of students. CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS Student engagement in school nutrition policies has been shown to increase student acceptance in an array of health-related areas and is therefore promising in the area of obesity prevention. Comprehensiveness and rigor of LWPs were strongly correlated with the inclusion of student-involvement goals on LWPs. The upcoming reauthorization of the Child Nutrition programs in 2010 creates a good opportunity to address student involvement in LWPs.