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Second-Generation Latinos in Nebraska: A First Look

Recent raids at Midwestern meatpacking plants have again focused
national attention on immigrants and their families in America's
heartland.  A new article from the Migration Information Source examines
how children of immigrants are faring in Nebraska, which between 1990
and 2000, had the fastest growth of the foreign-born population of any
Midwestern state and the second highest increase in children of
immigrants in pre-kindergarten to fifth grade.

Noted scholars Lourdes Gouveia and Mary Ann Powell, from the University
of Nebraska at Omaha, find that as of December 2006, Latino children
made up 22.6 percent of students in the Omaha Public School District,
the state's largest, and that they are projected to be a majority in as
little as five years. The authors provide a previously unavailable look
at first-, second- and third generation immigrants throughout the state
based on Current Population Survey data and their own Educational
Attainment in Nebraska survey, noting that due to limited sample sizes,
the data are more descriptive than conclusive. 

Gouveia and Powell find that:

According to CPS data, school enrollment for 16- to 24-year-olds jumps
from 22.3 percent of first-generation Mexicans (59.7 percent full time)
to 54.5 percent of second-generation Mexicans (90.3 percent full time).
Educational attainment increases across generations, too.  CPS data show
that nearly three out of four first-generation Mexican adults ages 25 to
65 (73.8 percent) have less than a high school diploma, but this number
drops to one out of four in the second generation (25.6 percent). While
only 2.6 percent of first-generation Mexican adults have a college
degree, almost one-fourth of second-generation Mexican adults (22.8
percent) do. 

Only sixteen percent of first-generation Latino students who completed
the authors' EAN survey reported that many or most of their friends had
plans to attend a four-year college, but 23 percent of second-generation
and over half of third-generation Latino students reported friends
having college plans.
Despite this progress, hurdles remain. The majority of children of
immigrants in Nebraska live in urban neighborhoods where poverty is at
least twice as high as the city's overall poverty rate, and the authors
caution that research has shown a correlation between family
fragmentation, due in part to immigrant parents' long working hours in
low-wage jobs, and downward assimilation. 

The authors found that of the second-generation Latino high school
students who provided information on their parents' work status for the
EAN survey, 100 percent of fathers and 69 percent of mothers work.
However, the majority (55.2 percent) of first-generation high school
students and over a third of second-generation high school students
(38.4 percent) had to work to help their parents, while only 18.2
percent of third-generation students did.  Additionally, about 70
percent of Latino children surveyed said they would need a scholarship
to attend college.

Additional findings, as well as data charts, are available
from the Migration Information Source article at:

http://www.migrationinformation.org/Feature/display.cfm?id=569