Second-Generation Latinos Connecting to School and Work. Vulnerable Youth and the Transition to Adulthood. ASPE Research Brief

Immigrants are a large and growing segment of the United States population. In the past 25 years, the United States has witnessed a 150 percent increase in the foreign-born population, with over 35 million foreign-born people living in the United States in 2005 (Vericker, Kuehn, and Capps 2007). Latino immigrants make up the majority of this growth; 53 percent of the foreign-born emigrated from Latin America (Larson 2004). As a result of this increase in the foreign-born population, the share of all US-born children with at least one immigrant parent has more than tripled. Currently, about one-fifth of all children are growing up in immigrant families. The rapid expansion of this population has led many to question how well youth with immigrant parents fare in early adulthood. As second-generation Latino youth continue to make up a larger share of this population, their educational and labor market successes and failures will play a large role in shaping this country's economic future. Using the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, 1997 cohort, this brief examines young adult connections to school and employment (or connectedness) between the ages of 18 and 24 for children of Latino immigrants (second generation) compared with children of native-born Latinos (third generation), children of native-born non-Hispanic blacks (blacks), and children of native-born non-Hispanic whites and other race groups (whites). (Contains 3 figures, 1 table, and 5 footnotes.)