Study Shows Immigrants, Their Children Struggling Economically

By Mike Sunnucks
The Business Journal of Phoenix

A new study shows that many immigrant families in Arizona are living in poverty or toiling near the bottom of the economic food chain.

The report released Wednesday shows that two-thirds of immigrant children in Arizona are in low-income families; 29 percent of immigrant kids live well below the poverty line and that median family income for immigrants in the state is 35,100 per year.

Non-immigrant families earn $52,600 per year and 17 percent of U.S.-born kids are living below the poverty line in the state, according to the study by the Annie B. Casey Foundation.

The Casey Kids Count 2007 report also found that 20 percent of all Arizona children live in poverty, a third of Arizona babies are born to foreign-born mothers and 28 percent of kids in the state live in immigrant families.

Arizona traditionally ranks poorly when it comes to children's indicators but the immigration numbers come at a time when illegal immigration and punishing employers who hire illegals is at the forefront of political debates.

Businesses argue that immigrant workers take jobs other won't do and are important to the economy. Others counter that businesses hire illegals because they offer cheap, sometimes under the table labor in sectors such as construction, food service, farming and tourism.

From: The Business Journal of Phoenix (www.bizjournals.com)