Table 5
Non elderly Poverty Rates in Native and Immigrant Households, by Year
Persons in households headed by a native
Persons in households headed by an immigrant
Percentage of population
Percentage of population
the poverty rate fell so much between 1959 and 1969, while a growing and
increasingly low-income immigrant population cannot explain much of the trend
in poverty prior to 1980. On the other hand, if we focus on the second half of the
period, we see that while poverty rates among natives have changed little, poverty
rates among immigrants have increased by nearly two percentage points, and the
fraction of the population that is foreign born has increased by six percentage
points. Taken together, these changes should put upward pressure on the poverty
rate, but how much?