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Finding the Lost Generation: Identifying Second-Generation Immigrants in Federal Statistics

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  • Douglas S. Massey

Abstract

This article underscores the importance of adding a question on parental birthplace to the American Community Survey (ACS). This question was removed from the long form of the U.S. Census after 1970 and replaced by a question on ancestry. While the former provides accurate information about a demographic fact that is critical to the identification of the children of immigrants, the latter refers to a subjective social construction that has limited utility for purposes of program administration, apportionment, or governance. At the time that the parental birthplace question was eliminated, the percentage of ACS respondents who were foreign-born had reached an all-time low, and the second generation was aging and shrinking, so the loss to the nation’s statistical system was not immediately apparent. With the revival of immigration in the final quarter of the twentieth century, the inability to identify and study the second generation has become glaringly apparent. Immigrants and their children now constitute a quarter of the U.S. population: their nonwhite racial origins and a widespread lack of legal documents among them render their prospects for integration uncertain. Our current inability to accurately measure progress between first- and second-generation immigrants now constitutes a major weakness in the U.S. statistical system.

Suggested Citation

  • Douglas S. Massey, 2018. "Finding the Lost Generation: Identifying Second-Generation Immigrants in Federal Statistics," The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, , vol. 677(1), pages 96-104, May.
  • Handle: RePEc:sae:anname:v:677:y:2018:i:1:p:96-104
    DOI: 10.1177/0002716218760506
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Douglas S. Massey & Kerstin Gentsch, 2014. "Undocumented Migration to the United States and the Wages of Mexican Immigrants," International Migration Review, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 48(2), pages 482-499, June.
    2. Joni Hersch, 2008. "Profiling the New Immigrant Worker: The Effects of Skin Color and Height," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 26(2), pages 345-386, April.
    3. Douglas S. Massey & Jorge Durand & Karen A. Pren, 2014. "Explaining Undocumented Migration to the U.S," International Migration Review, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 48(4), pages 1028-1061, December.
    4. Reynolds Farley, 1991. "The new census question about ancestry: What did it tell us?," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 28(3), pages 411-429, August.
    5. Julia Gelatt, 2016. "Immigration Status and the Healthcare Access and Health of Children of Immigrants," Social Science Quarterly, Southwestern Social Science Association, vol. 97(3), pages 540-554, September.
    6. Jorge Delva & Pilar Horner & Ramiro Martinez & Laura Sanders & William D. Lopez & John Doering-white, 2013. "Mental health problems of children of undocumented parents in the united states: A hidden crisis," Journal of Community Positive Practices, Catalactica NGO, issue 3, pages 25-35.
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