23
AmongMexican migrants, the duration of the
migratoryexperience tends to improveaccess tobet-
ter employment moderately, as long-termmigrants
present a higher concentration in categories such
as specialized laborers or workers, salespersons and
executives thenmore recentmigrants. Themost no-
table change is the drop in the percentage of cons-
truction workers among recent arrivals (a decrease
of over five percentage points between 2004 and
2013), linked to themortgage crisis and slowdown in
the construction industry.
While Central American immigrants are con-
centrated in the same labor groups as Mexican
immigrants, their proportion in the categories of
executives, professionals, technicians, sales, admi-
nistrative support and office workers is higher than
that of those born inMexico.
Low-incomes are frequent among
theMexican immigrant population
In the United States, the population living in poverty
has increasedamongall thegroups studied in thepast
decade. A comparison of the percentages of immi-
grants,US-bornnon-HispanicwhitesandAfricanAme-
ricans living below 150% of the federal poverty line
for the United States shows that Mexican immigrants
are the groupwith the greatest economic deprivation,
both in 2004 and 2013 (Figure 10), and that this si-
tuation is most severe among recent arrivals. Factors
such as the lack of documentation and the sectors of
activity inwhichMexicans are concentrated (low paid
and heavily penalized by the economic crisis) have
contributed significantly to the economic deprivation
of theMexicanpopulation in theUnitedStates.
Notes:
1/Incomeunder 150%of the federal poverty line for theUnitedStates.
2/Recent arrivals: arrivedbetween1994and2004 for 2004; andbetween2004and2013 for 2013.
3/Long-term residents: arrivedbefore1994 for 2004; andbefore2004 for 2013.
Source: Migration Policy Bureau, SEGOB, based on U.S. Census Bureau,
Current Population Survey
(CPS), for March
2004andMarch2013. IntegratedPublicUseMicrodataSeries (IPUMS)USA,Minneapolis: UniversityofMinnesota.
Figure10. Low-incomepopulation
1
in theUnitedStates,
by regionof originandethnicityor race, 2004and2013
chapter i •
characteristics of mexican immigrants in the united states
