Immigrant Workers: Job, Family & Care-Giving Characteristics as Predictors of Poverty, Psychological Well-Being and Work-Family Conflict

Problem: Immigrant workers comprise a significant percentage of the U.S. labor force. While the exact number is unclear because of the difficulty in counting undocumented workers (Passel & Suro, 2005), estimates suggest that in 2006, 23 million workers or one in seven workers in the United States were immigrants (Orazag, 2007). While a small number of immigrant workers are recruited for highly-skilled, well-paying jobs in engineering, information technology and healthcare, Capps, Fortuny, and Fix (2007) found that among 20 million immigrant workers in 2005, 15 million were employed in low-wage and low-skill jobs. For many immigrants human and social capital is not translatable across cultures. Additionally, separation from family and community results in loss of social support systems. These factors often limit the earning capacities of immigrant workers and lead to increased risk of poverty and high levels of stress, anxiety, depression, and work-family strain (Grzywacz, Quandt, Arcury, & Marin, 2005). Although economic circumstances and health outcomes of working immigrants, have been well studied (Tienda, 2002; Clark, 1998; Bloom, 1985; Portes, & Zhou, 1992; Galster, Metzger, & Wite, 1999), there is limited information on the interface of work and life circumstances of employed immigrants.

Purpose: Data from the 2002 National Study of the Changing Workforce (NSCW)was used to examine whether job conditions, family/social supports, and care-giving factors differ between employed immigrants who live above and below 250% of the poverty guideline, and to see if these factors predict poverty status, psychological well-being, and work-family conflict.

Procedures: The NSCW survey provides the only data set of its kind to look at quality of the work environment for the nation's labor force, but has not been used to understand the unique circumstances of immigrant workers. Bivariate analyses were used to determine the differences between groups, and logistic regression was used to determine the predictive value of the identified factors.

Results: The study found that immigrant workers who live at or below 250% of the poverty guideline are likely be younger, male, single, less educated, more likely to have children less than 18 years old, and face language barriers. These workers are also more likely to work at poor quality jobs in the service, production, operation and repair sectors, experience higher layoffs, and experience higher incidence of depression and negative spillover from home to job. Immigrant workers earning above 250% of the poverty guideline are more likely to be U.S. citizens, older, female, have higher educational attainment, and work in executive, managerial, or administrative/professional jobs. This group of workers is more likely to experience work-life conflict as negative spillover from job to home.

Implications: This study illustrates that immigrant workers are not a homogeneous group. Hence, social policy and practice initiatives must be designed to address the multidimensional concerns of a diverse population of immigrant workers. The study also highlights the need for further research to better understand the type of social services and supports that are most helpful to enhance the quality of life for immigrant workers and their families.