II. Refugees in the United States

Population Profile

This section characterizes the refugee, Amerasian, and entrant population (hereafter, referred to as refugees unless noted otherwise) in the U.S., focusing primarily on those who have entered since 1983. All tables referenced by number appear in Appendix A.1

Nationality of U.S. Refugee Population

Southeast Asians2 remain the largest refugee group among recent arrivals. Of the approximately 1,813,760 refugees who have arrived in the United States since 1983, about 36 percent have fled from nations of Southeast Asia (refer to Table 1, Appendix A). Based on State Department figures for the period FY 1975 through FY 2000 (refer to Table 1, this section), about 52 percent have fled from nations of Southeast Asia.

Vietnamese continue to be the majority refugee group from Southeast Asia, although the ethnic composition of the entering population has become more diverse over time. About 135,000 Southeast Asians fled to America at the time of the collapse of the Saigon government in 1975. Over the next four years, large numbers of boat people escaped Southeast Asia and were admitted to the U.S. The majority of these arrivals were Vietnamese. The Vietnamese share has declined gradually, however, especially since persons from Cambodia and Laos began to arrive in larger numbers in 1980.

For the period FY 1983 through FY 2001, Vietnamese refugees made up 71 percent of refugee arrivals from Southeast Asia, while 18 percent were from Laos, and 11 percent were from Cambodia. More recently, refugees from outside of Southeast Asia have arrived in larger numbers. Between FY 1988 and FY 2001, refugees arriving from the former Soviet Union have surpassed refugees arriving from Vietnam every year except FY 1991. More recently, in FY 1995, refugees from the former Soviet Union and Vietnam were surpassed by refugees arriving from Cuba. Since FY 1998, refugees from the former Yugoslavia eclipsed all other refugee groups.

Since ORR began keeping records of refugee arrivals in 1983, refugees from five countries have represented 70 percent of all arrivals: the former Soviet Union (26 percent), Vietnam (25 percent), Cuba (10 percent), the former Yugoslavia (9 percent), and Laos (6 percent).

For FY 2001, refugees from five countries represented over two-thirds of all arrivals: Cuba (21 percent), the former Yugoslavia (19 percent), the former Soviet Union (18 percent), Sudan (7 percent), and Iran (6 percent).

Geographic Location of Refugees

Southeast Asian refugees have settled in every State and one territory of the United States (refer to Table 2, Appendix A). From FY 1983 through FY 2001, more Southeast Asians initially resettled in California than any other State (35 percent). For the same period, more non-Southeast Asians resettled in New York than any other State (18 percent).

The majority of refugees initially resettled in California arrived from Vietnam (39 percent) followed by refugees from the former Soviet Union (22 percent). Sixty-eight percent of the refugees initially resettled in New York were from the former Soviet Union followed by refugees from Vietnam (8 percent). Eighty-one percent of the refugees initially resettled in Florida arrived from Cuba and Haiti.

Table 1: Summary of Refugee Admissions for FY 1975 - FY 2001

Fiscal Year	Africa	East Asia	Eastern Europe	Soviet Union	Latin America	Near East Asia
1975	0	135,000	1,947	6,211	3,000	0
1976	0	15,000	1,756	7,450	3,000	0
1977	0	7,000	1,755	8,191	3,000	0
1978	0	20,574	2,245	10,688	3,000	0
1979	0	76,521	3,393	24,449	7,000	0
1980	955	163,799	5,025	28,444	6,662	2,231
1981	2,119	131,139	6,704	13,444	2,017	3,829
1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1900 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001	3,412 2,645 2,749 1,951 1,322 1,990 1,593 1,902 3,453 4,420 5,470 6,967 5,860 4,827 7,604 6,065 6,887 13,043 17,561 19,021	73,755 39,245 51,978 49,962 45,482 40,099 35,371 45,722 51,598 53,522 51,899 49,817 43,564 36,987 19,321 8,594 10,854 10,206 4,561 3,725	11,109 11,867 10,096 9,233 8,503 8,396 7,510 8,752 6,094 6,837 2,915 2,582 7,707 10,070 12,145 21,401 30,842 24,497 22,561 15,777	2,760 1,342 721 623 799 3,699 20,411 39,602 50,628 39,226 61,397 48,773 43,854 35,951 29,816 27,331 23,557 17,410 15,103 15,748	580 691 150 151 131 323 2,497 2,604 2,305 2,253 3,065 4,071 6,156 7,629 3,550 2,996 1,627 2,110 3,232 2,973	6,480 5,428 4,699 5,784 5,909 10,021 8,368 6,938 4,979 5,342 6,903 6,987 5,840 4,510 3,967 4,101 3,313 4,098 10,129 12,060
1975-2001 Grand Total	121,816	1,272,642	247,696	577,628	76,773	131,916

Note: This chart does not include an additional 8,214 refugees admitted between FY 1988 and FY 1993 under the Private Sector Initiative (PSI). Numbers listed above for Latin America exclude Cuban and Haitian entrants. In FY 1999, an additional 14,161 Kosovar refugees were admitted for a total of 2,467,522.

Source: Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration, U.S Department of State

Of that 81 percent, Cuba accounted for 72 percent (78 percent as entrants, 22 percent as refugees); another nine percent were from Haiti (92 percent as entrants, eight percent as refugees). In Texas, the largest proportion of refugees came from Vietnam (49 percent) and the former Yugoslavia (10 percent). In the State of Washington, the largest proportion of refugees came from the former Soviet Union (43 percent) and from Vietnam (27 percent).

California and New York have resettled the greatest number of refugees to date (refer to Table 3, Appendix A). California received the most refugees from FY 1983 through FY 1994; since FY 1995, Florida has resettled the largest number of refugees every year but FY 1997, when New York resettled the most refugees.

For FY 2001, the majority of arrivals initially resettled in the same five States as in previous years. The majority of Florida arrivals entered from Cuba (81 percent), followed by refugees from the former Yugoslavia (6 percent). Forty-seven percent of the refugees initially resettled in New York arrived from the former Soviet Union, with another 16 percent from the former Yugoslavia. The majority of California arrivals arrived from Iran (39 percent), followed by refugees from the former Soviet Union (29 percent). In Texas, refugees from Sudan (16 percent) made up the largest proportion, followed by refugees from Yugoslavia (15 percent). Sixty-five percent of Washington arrivals came from the former Soviet Union, with another 10 percent from the former Yugoslavia.

Secondary Migration

The Reception and Placement program (see page 11) ensures that refugees arrive in communities with sufficient resources to meet their immediate needs and a caseworker to assist them with resettlement and orientation. Refugees need not stay in their community of initial resettlement, however, and many leave to build a new life elsewhere. A number of explanations for secondary migration by refugees have been suggested: better employment opportunities, the pull of an established ethnic community, more generous welfare benefits, better training opportunities, reunification with relatives, or a more congenial climate.

The Refugee Assistance Amendments of 1982 amended the Refugee Act of 1980 (section 412(a)(3)) directing ORR to compile and maintain data on the secondary migration of refugees within the United States. In response to this directive, ORR developed the Refugee State-of-Origin Report (ORR-11) for estimating secondary migration. Beginning with FY 1983, the principal use of the ORR-11 data has been to allocate ORR social service funds to States. The most recent compilation was September 30, 2000.

The method of estimating secondary migration is based on the first three digits of social security numbers which are assigned geographically in blocks by State. With the assistance of their sponsors, almost all arriving refugees apply for social security numbers immediately upon arrival in the United States. Therefore, the first three digits of a refugee's social security number are a good indicator of his or her initial State of residence in the U.S. If a refugee currently residing in California has a social security number assigned in Nevada, for example, the method treats that person as having moved from initial resettlement in Nevada to current residence in California.

States participating in the refugee program provide ORR-11 data for refugees currently receiving assistance or services in their programs (for the most recent three-year period). Compilation of ORR-11 data by all reporting States results in a 51 X 51 State matrix which contains information on migration from each State to every other State. In effect, State A's report shows how many people have migrated in from other States, as well as how many people who were initially placed in State A are currently there. The reports from every other State, when combined, show how many people have left State A.

Available information indicates that much of the secondary migration of refugees takes place during their first few years after arrival and that the refugee population becomes relatively stabilized in its geographic distribution after an initial adjustment period. The matrix of all possible pairs of in- and out-migration between States can be summarized into total in- and out-migration figures reported for each State. Examination of the detailed State-by-State matrix showed several migration patterns: a strong movement in and out of California, Florida, and Texas; a strong movement into Ohio, Minnesota, and Washington; a strong movement out of New Jersey, New York, and Virginia; and some population exchange between contiguous or geographically close States.

Almost every State experienced both gains and losses through secondary migration. Twenty States gained additional refugees through secondary migration. California recorded the largest overall migration (4,766), followed by Minnesota (4,465), Texas (2,988), Washington (2,867) and Florida (2,765). Minnesota reported the largest number of in-migrants (3,887), followed by Washington (2,219), California (2,189), and Ohio (2,041). California (2,577), New York, (1,921) and Texas (1,900) experienced very high out-migration.

The largest net in-migration was logged for Minnesota (3,309), Ohio (1,718), and Washington (1,571). The largest net out-migration was recorded for New York (1,887) and New Jersey (1,446).

Economic Adjustment

Overview

Economic self-sufficiency is as important to refugees as adapting to their new homeland's social rhythms. Towards that end, the Refugee Act of 1980, and the Refugee Assistance amendments enacted in 1982 and 1986, stress the achievement of employment and economic self-sufficiency by refugees as soon as possible after their arrival in the United States. This involves a balance among three elements: (1) the employment potential of refugees, including their education, skills, English language competence, and health; (2) the needs that they as individuals and members of families have for financial resources, whether for food, housing, or child care; and (3) the economic environment in which they settle, including the availability of jobs, housing, and other local resources.

Past refugee surveys have found that the economic adjustment of refugees to the U.S. has been a successful and generally rapid process. During 2001, the process of refugee economic adjustment appears to have followed patterns similar to those of recent years, as discussed below.

Measures of Economic Adjustment

In 2001, ORR completed its 30th survey of a national sample of refugees selected from the population of all refugees who arrived between May 1, 1996 and April 30, 2001. The survey collected basic demographic information such as age and country of origin, as well as data on education, English language training, job training, and labor force participation, work experience and barriers to employment of each adult member of the household. The survey also collected family housing, income, and welfare utilization data.

To evaluate the economic progress of refugees, ORR used several measures of employment effort that are frequently used by economists. The first group of measures relates to employment status in the week before the survey, and includes the employment-to-population ratio (or EPR), the labor force participation rate, and the unemployment rate. In addition, data on work experience over the past year (that is how many weeks the refugee was able to work) and typical number of hours worked per week were analyzed, as well as reasons for not working. Data are also presented on the length of time it took refugees to gain their first employment since coming to the U.S.

Employment Status

Table 1 in this section presents the employment rate (EPR)3 in October 2001 for refugees 16 and over in the five-year population. The survey found that the overall EPR for all refugees who came to the U.S. between 1996 and 2001 (as a group) was 62 percent (68 percent for males and 56 percent for females). As a point of reference, the employment rate for the U.S. population was 64 percent in 2001. Economic conditions in the U.S. as a whole influence the ability of refugees to find employment. But independent of economic conditions here, considerable progress has been made by refugees in finding employment upon arrival by those who have come in the past few years. Refugees who entered the U.S. in the late 1980's and early 1990's, who were interviewed in the 1993 survey, for example, were only employed at about half the overall U.S. employment rate at that time (33 percent versus 62 percent - see Figure 1 below). This progress can in part be attributed to the increased emphasis placed on finding employment by State and ORR supported- programs.

Refugee employment tends to increase with each year of residence in the U.S. While the overall EPR for the 2001 arrivals was only 39 percent, for example, the employment rate in 2001 of refugees who had arrived in 1998 was 69 percent.4

Table 1 also contains data on labor force participation rate5 for refugees 16 and over in the five-year population. This rate is closely related to the employment rate, except it includes individuals looking for work as well as those currently employed. In October 2001, the overall labor force participation rate for the five-year refugee population was 67 percent (73 percent for males and 61 percent for females). The labor force participation rate of refugees who arrived between 1996 and 2001 as a group was indistinguishable from that of the U.S. population (67 percent in 2001). As with the EPR, the labor force participation rate of refugees increases with time in the U.S. The labor force participation rate for the 2001 arrivals was 50 percent, for example, but reached 72 percent for refugees who arrived in 1998.

Another way of demonstrating the improvement in employment participation of refugees is to look in successive surveys at the EPR for refugees who entered the U.S. in a particular year. For example, refugees who entered the U.S. in 1997 had an employment rate of 50.0 percent in the 1997 survey, 54.5 percent in the 1998 survey, 67.7 percent in the 1999 survey, 69.6 percent in the 2000 survey, and 67.9 percent in the 2001 survey. The recent economic recession in the U.S. as a whole could play a role in the dip in employment for this group between the last two surveys. The U.S. employment rate for the population as a whole dropped from 64.5 to 63.8 percent on an annual basis between 2000 and 2001.

Table 3 reveals significant differences between the employment rates of seven refugee country of origin groupings6. The EPR for the seven refugee groups ranged from a high of 76 percent for refugees from

Figure 1. Employment Rate of Refugees and U.S. Population: 1993 to 2001

(Figures for refugees are for those in the survey sample in the year shown. Employment status is as of the week prior to the Survey.)

TABLE 1 - Employment Status of Refugees by Year of Arrival and Sex: 2001 Survey

	Employment Rate (EPR)			Labor Force Participation Rate			Unemployment Rate
Year of Arrival	All	Male	Female	All	Male	Female	All	Male	Female
2001	39.2%	53.4%	26.5%	50.2%	64.9%	37.0%	21.9%	17.7%	28.6%
2000	52.6	61.7	43.6	60.7	69.7	51.8	13.4	11.5	15.9
1999	64.3	70.5	57.7	68.0	74.8	60.8	5.4	5.7	5.1
1998	68.6	69.0	68.2	72.0	72.6	71.4	4.7	5.0	4.5
1997	68.0	73.7	62.6	69.8	76.6	63.5	2.7	3.7	1.5
1996	62.6	66.6	58.4	66.8	71.3	62.1	6.3	6.6	6.0
Total Sample	62.0	67.7	56.3	66.6	72.7	60.5	6.9	6.9	6.9
U.S. Rates	63.8	70.8	57.3	66.9	74.4	60.1	4.8	4.8	4.7

Note: As of October 2001. Not seasonally adjusted. Data refer to refugees 16 and over in the five-year sample population consisting of Amerasians, Entrants, and Refugees of all nationalities who arrived in the years 1996-2001. U.S. rates are for 2001.

Eastern Europe and 72 percent for refugees from Vietnam (exceeding the EPR from the U.S. population), to a low of 47 percent for refugees from the former Soviet Union. While some groups have a higher proportion of persons over age 65 years than other country of origin groups, which might be expected to affect the employment rates shown here for persons 16 years of age and older, age composition differences alone between groups did not explain these differences.

Refugees from the former Soviet Union had the lowest employment rate even among those 20 to 64 years of age, for example. Refugees from Eastern Europe, Vietnam, and Latin America continue to sustain the highest EPR whereas refugees from former Soviet Union, Africa, and Southeast Asia have endured the lowest employment rates across the most recent surveys. The labor force participation rate followed the same pattern as the EPR.

The unemployment rate was highest for refugees from the Middle East and former Soviet Union, and lowest for refugees from Southeast Asia and Vietnam.

For the U.S. population as a whole, the employment rate for women was about 81 percent of that for men. For refugees as a group, the employment rate for women was about 83 percent of that for men in 2001. The biggest disparity within refugee groups was for refugees from Africa with the employment rate for women only 65 percent of that for men. In contrast, near parity in employment rates for men and women refugees from Eastern European countries and Vietnam was the case in 2001, with the employment rate of women about 95 percent of that of men for those groups.