Office Of Refugee Resettlement: Resources

Synthesis of Findings From Three Sites

2. Food Stamp Assistance

Figure VI.2 shows Food Stamp receipt for the first three years after entry into the United States by site. In the first year, roughly 82 percent of all refugees received Food Stamps in Miami, 75 percent received them in Sacramento, and 61 percent received them in Houston. From additional analysis conducted for Houston, but not shown in this figure, the lower percentage of Food Stamp receipt among Houston refugees is driven by an earlier cohort of refugees (pre-2003) who had to apply for Food Stamps in person at the welfare agency. After the state moved to the PPP and the Volags began handling the Food Stamp applications, rates of Food Stamp receipt increased (74 percent, on average, for FY 2003–04 cohorts).

Figure VI.2: Food Stamp Receipt by Year after Entry

Figure VI.2: Food Stamp Receipt by Year after Entry

Sources: State Food Stamp administrative data

By Year 3, rates of Food Stamp receipt had fallen to 25 percent in Houston, 23 percent in Miami, and 45 percent in Sacramento.

Back to Table of Contents

B. Employment Patterns and Job Characteristics

The employment outcomes come from two sources: unemployment insurance (UI) wage records and the client survey. The UI wage records are collected by calendar quarter and include earnings on all jobs covered by the UI system. Some employment, such as self-employment (e.g., domestic work, informal child care, and landscaping services) are not captured in the data but might be captured in the survey. In addition, the UI wages reflect only employment within the state. If refugees moved to this state from another state, the estimate does not include their earnings in the other state. The survey was also able to ask refugees more detailed information on the types of jobs and their hourly wages.

1. Employment

Figure VI.3 shows the percentage of refugees employed (from UI wage records) in the first four years after arriving in the country. In Houston and Miami, most refugees were steadily working throughout the first three years, averaging from 70 to 77 percent. These rates are significantly higher than the rates for refugees in Sacramento.

Figure VI.3: Percent Employed by Year after Entry

Figure VI.3: Percent Employed by Year after Entry

Sources: State unemployment insurance wage records

The lower employment rate in Sacramento can be attributed to several factors. First, Sacramento refugees were more likely to be families with children, and in these families, one adult might have chosen to stay at home to care for the children. A higher portion of refugees in Sacramento were also female, and further analysis found that women had lower employment rates than men in all sites. Also, as discussed above, Sacramento offers comparatively higher welfare benefits and has a TANF system that allows families to focus more on education, training, and skill development than immediate employment during the initial years. The site also emphasizes the importance of gaining English skills before moving into the job market, a philosophy that is less prevalent in the other two sites.

The survey shows higher percentages of refugees were working than is shown in the UI wage data in all sites, suggesting many refugees worked on their own in jobs that were not covered by the UI system. At the time the survey was conducted (September 2006 to March 2007), from 70 to 86 percent of refugees reported being employed, depending on the site. Overall, virtually all refugees in Houston and Miami (96 and 97 percent, respectively) and 84 percent of refugees in Sacramento had a job at some point since they had entered the country.

Figure VI.4 shows employment rates from the survey by the year when refugees entered the United States. The top half shows the share that were ever employed since entry into the United States, while the bottom half shows the share that were employed when the survey was conducted. From 94 to 98 percent of refugees in Houston and Miami and 73 to 88 percent of refugees in Sacramento had a job at some point after they entered the country.

Figure VI.4: Employment Rates from Survey by Entry Cohort

Figure VI.4: Employment Rates from Survey by Entry Cohort

Source: Refugee Assistance Survey

Examining current employment by year of entry, Houston rates ranged from 74 to 85 percent depending on when refugees entered the country, Miami’s employment rates ranged from 80 to 93 percent for the most recent cohort, and Sacramento’s rates ranged from 61 percent (most recent cohort) to 76 percent (earliest cohort).

Back to Table of Contents

2. Job Tenure and Turnover

Table VI.3 shows that, on average, most refugees in Houston and Miami have worked in about three jobs since arriving in the United States; in Sacramento, they worked in fewer than two jobs. For those who entered in FY 2004, the most recent cohort, the number of jobs was slightly lower: 2.5 in Houston, 2.6 in Miami, and 1.3 in Sacramento.

Table VI.3: Average Number of Jobs and Time in Current Job

Employment Outcome	Houston	Miami	Sacramento
Average number of jobs in U.S. by cohort:
FY 2000	3.5	2.7	-----
FY 2001	2.8	3.1	1.9
FY 2002	3.0	2.9	1.8
FY 2003	2.7	3.3	1.7
FY 2004	2.5	2.6	1.3
Total	2.8	2.9	1.7
Of those currently working:
Average number of jobs working	1.1	1.1	1.1
Average months at current job	24.8	25.9	23.2
Average number of hours working a week	43.1	41.5	37.1
Sample	305	317	292

Source: Refugee Assistance Survey

Most refugees worked about 40 hours in a week and had spent from 23 to 26 months in their current job. While service provider staff said that refugees often have several jobs at one time, the survey found that, on average, refugees who are working have 1.1 jobs.

Back to Table of Contents

3. Industries and Occupations

Table VI.4 shows the refugees’ industry and occupation for their current job or most recent job if they were not working. As this table shows, refugees in Houston were most likely to be employed in the manufacturing industry, followed by the leisure and hospitality industry. Manufacturing has been a mainstay of refugee employment in Houston—especially for lower-skilled refugees—for several years. The site visits revealed that Volag staff work closely with area employers at manufacturing plants and hotels and refer large numbers of refugees to specific employers. The text box provides examples of two companies that employ refugees in these industries.

Text Box: Two Houston Employers Manufacturer of Cables A Houston manufacturing plant employs about 250 people, about 200 of whom are refugees. The refugees are generally temporary hires who work on the assembly line and in sewing and soldering positions. Entry-level jobs pay $6.25 an hour and include holiday, vacation, medical/dental coverage, and overtime. Soldering positions pay from $7 to $11 an hour. Seventy-five to 80 percent of the temporary workers do not speak English; there are plant supervisors who speak Spanish and Vietnamese, but workers who speak other languages sometimes have difficulty communicating with supervisors. The entry-level jobs on the assembly line are physically demanding but pay well because of overtime. About half the workers are men; men tend to do the most physically demanding jobs, and women do more of the jobs requiring dexterity, such as sewing. Most workers put in 60 hours a week in 12-hour shifts, with overtime paid (1.5 times the normal wage) after 40 hours. This employer tends to be popular among refugees because of the overtime pay, the fact that non-English speakers can get entry-level positions, and the proximity of the plant to the apartment complexes where most refugees live. Employees who refer other people for jobs receive bonuses, and many refugee employees have been referred this way. International Hotel Chain The main downtown hotel employs more than 800 people. Refugees are hired for all entry-level positions but most typically for housekeeping or dishwashing because of language barriers. These jobs start at $6.50 an hour for 32- to 40-hour weeks (depending on scheduling), and carry benefits after 90 days. If refugees have an employment history (e.g., as a busboy) and some English skills, they can work at higher-paying jobs in the kitchen. Owing to rapid turnover, there are about 50 openings in these entry-level jobs every month. Many refugees cannot work nights or weekends because buses do not run at those times, and they have no other form of transportation. The Volag staff bring refugees in for group interviews and act as translators (hotel supervisors speak Spanish, French, and Arabic, but not the wide range of languages spoken by the refugees). Many refugees—particularly women—prefer hotels to manufacturing because the work is less physically demanding, the environment is cleaner, and the hours are more flexible. The employment manager reported that refugees generally make faithful employees because they stay on the job for at least six months, resulting in lower turnover than for other employees.

Table VI.4: Industry and Occupation of Current Job (percent)

	Houston	Miami	Sacramento
Business or industry of current or most recent job
Manufacturing	23.3	9.5	6.0
Construction	5.3	13.3	18.5
Wholesale and retail trade	13.0	13.9	16.5
Education and health services	9.3	17.4	16.5
Leisure and hospitality	16.0	13.3	10.1
Transportation and utilities	12.0	9.8	9.7
Professional and business services	5.3	6.6	5.6
Other services	7.0	5.7	7.7
Other	8.7	10.8	9.3
Occupation of current or most recent job
Service	29.4	29.7	33.6
Transportation and material moving	20.7	12.9	14.0
Production	19.4	8.8	7.2
Installation, maintenance, and repair	6.4	11.0	12.0
Professional and related	8.7	10.4	9.2
Sales and related	8.0	9.1	6.8
Management and business operations	2.3	8.2	4.0
Office and administrative support	4.7	3.8	3.2
Construction trades and related workers	0.3	5.7	8.4
Farming, fishing, and forestry	0.0	0.0	*
How found current or most recent job
Refugee service agency, mutual assistance association, or voluntary resettlement agency	13.4	2.5	13.0
Welfare or public employment agency	7.4	1.5	11.1
Private employment agency	8.7	4.3	5.5
Newspapers or other advertisements	17.7	8.3	13.0
Religious institution	2.3	*	2.8
College or job training program	2.0	*	7.5
Friend, relative, or sponsor	60.5	66.5	58.5
Other	7.4	12.6	6.7
Sample	301	296	254

Source: Refugee Assistance Survey
* Indicates a category that contains fewer than five individuals

In Miami, the most common employers of refugees were in the education and health services, leisure and hospitality, and construction industries. Based on site visit information, the jobs in the education and health service sector are most likely in the health and allied health field such as nurse aides, home health aides, licensed practical nurses, and pharmacy aides and technicians. In Sacramento, about half the jobs the refugees have fall within three industry groups: construction, education and health services, and wholesale and retail trade.

In terms of occupations, about a third of the jobs in which refugees are working are service jobs, ranging from 29 percent in Houston to 34 percent in Sacramento. Houston has a higher share in transportation and material moving and production occupations than the other sites. Miami and Sacramento have higher shares in installation, maintenance, and repair; management; and construction occupations.

Most refugees in all three sites found their current or most recent jobs through a friend, relative, or sponsor. About 13 percent of refugees in Houston and Sacramento found their jobs through a refugee service provider, MAA, or Volag; only 3 percent found their jobs through one of these sources in Miami. A relatively high share of refugees (11 percent) in Sacramento found their jobs through the welfare or public employment agency. The percent of refugees who found their first job through a refugee organization is higher (37 percent in Houston, 10 percent in Miami, and 20 percent in Sacramento). Note that some individuals who reported finding jobs through friends, newspaper advertisements, and other independent sources may have done so using skills obtained through the refugee, welfare, or employment agency.

Back to Table of Contents

4. Wages and Earnings

Wages for refugees are generally low, although they progress over time. At the time of the survey, the median wage in the current job ranged from $9 to $12 an hour for respondents, depending on the cohort and site, with Sacramento reporting higher median wages than the other two sites.

Among refugees who had at least two jobs, the median wages increased by $2.26 an hour in Houston, $2.58 in Miami, and $3.50 in Sacramento between their first job and their current or most recent job (as of the survey) (see Table VI.5). The median annual percent increase in median hourly wages was 9 percent in Houston, 12 percent in Miami, and 14 percent in Sacramento.46

Table VI.5: Estimated Annual Percent Increase in Wages of Current and First Jobs

	Hourly Median Wages		Wage difference ($)	Average annual percent increase
	First job ($)	Current job ($)	Wage difference ($)	Average annual percent increase
Houston	6.74	9.00	2.26	9.0
Miami	6.50	9.08	2.58	11.8
Sacramento	8.00	11.50	3.50	13.9

Source: Refugee Assistance Survey
Note: Calculated annual percent increase among those with at least one year elapsed between jobs.

Figure VI.5 shows the increase in average annual earnings over time relative to when the refugees entered. (This figure includes only those refugees who were employed at some point during the year.) In the refugees’ first year, they earned only about $7,300 in Houston and Miami and $5,400 in Sacramento. Most refugees included in this analysis were not employed all four quarters in the first year (among those with earnings, refugees were employed about 2.5 quarters, on average, in Houston, 2.4 in Miami, and 2.0 in Sacramento). The lower amount in Sacramento reflects the lower number of quarters worked. In the second year, the refugees experienced a jump in their wages to about $13,600 in Houston and Miami, and to $10,800 in Sacramento. The gains over the next two years were not as large in Houston, with just a 2 percent increase between years 3 and 4, and Miami, with a 9 percent increase, but gains were quite large in Sacramento (19 percent). The primary reason for the increase in annual earnings in Sacramento is because they had higher wages per quarter, not more quarters of employment in the year. It is not possible to assess whether the greater gains in wages in Sacramento were the result of external factors such as the economy, the refugees’ ability to focus on their education and skill development during the earlier years, or the fact that more refugees in Sacramento in comparison with Houston arrived with a high school education.

Figure VI.5: Average Annual Earnings by Year after Entry into the United States

Figure VI.5: Average Annual Earnings by Year after Entry into the United States

Sources: State unemployment insurance wage records

Back to Table of Contents

C. Employment Benefits and Health Insurance Coverage

Health insurance coverage through employment is one of the standard indicators for evaluating the RSS and TAG programs. Fewer than half of all refugees were offered health coverage or other benefits through their employers (see Table VI.6).

Table VI.6: Employment Benefits and Health Care Coverage

Measure	Houston	Miami	Sacramento
Benefits offered from current or most recent job (%)
Sick days with full pay	37.1	30.3	21.5
Paid vacation	52.4	44.7	29.4
Dental benefits	38.7	25.7	24.9
Retirement plan	40.1	24.9	27.6
Health plan or medical insurance	47.4	35.8	33.1
Health insurance in prior month (%)
Private health insurance coverage	36.8	35.3	26.7
Public health insurance coverage	15.9	10.5	51.5
Other insurance coverage	3.5	4.5	1.6
Uninsured	48.1	53.9	26.5
Sample size	316	335	306

Source: Refugee Assistance Survey

The proportion offered health insurance through their employer is higher in Houston than in Miami and Sacramento; in Houston, the manufacturers and hotels that employ refugees offer health benefits to refugees after they had been employed a certain length of time. In Sacramento about half the refugees received public health insurance coverage, substantially higher than in the other two sites. The Sacramento refugees were more likely to have dependents, which increased their eligibility for publicly funded coverage; and, as shown earlier, Sacramento refugees were more likely to be receiving other benefits from the county.

Approximately half of all refugees in Houston and Miami and one-quarter of refugees in Sacramento lacked health insurance. Given the health problems facing refugees that staff raised during site visits, this gap in coverage could lead to serious problems when some health conditions (e.g., diabetes, tuberculosis, asthma, and high blood pressure) are left untreated.

Back to Table of Contents

D. Child Care and Transportation

To address two common barriers to work, the survey asked respondents about their use of child care and their access to transportation (See Table VI.7). Among those refugees with young children (under the age of 13), about half the refugees in Sacramento had placed their children in child care, compared with 32 percent in Houston and 37 percent in Miami. Sacramento refugees were also more likely to use child care regularly.

Table VI.7: Child Care and Transportation

Measure	Houston	Miami	Sacramento
Among those with children under age 13 (%)
Ever placed children in child care	31.8	37.4	48.6
Ever used child care regularly (i.e., at
least once a week for at least a month)	24.4	30.8	44.6
Among those with child care
Child care paid for by (not mutually exclusive) (%):
Self	73.2	72.3	11.9
Government program	14.3	27.7	83.1
Employer	*	0.0	0.0
Community or nonprofit organization	*	*	*
Provided free by friend or family member	18.2	23.4	10.8
Hours a week in child care	25.7	29.3	33.7
Transportation (%)
With valid driver's license	80.7	93.1	87.3
Access to car or truck to get to work	84.5	89.3	89.9
Ever received transportation assistance	84.8	89.8	90.5
Sample size	316	335	306

Source: Refugee Assistance Survey

* Indicates a category that contains fewer than five individuals

Among those who used child care, 83 percent of the refugees received government-subsidized child care in Sacramento, compared with just 14 percent in Houston and 28 percent in Miami. During the Houston site visits, staff reported a lack of subsidized child care available in the community. This lack is complicated by the fact that the Volags place the refugees with dependents in the Matching Grant program rather than in TANF and TANF families are given priority for child care (other low-income families are placed on waiting lists and often must wait months, if not years, for slots to become available). Among those who used child care, most in Houston and Miami paid for it themselves; 18 percent in Houston and 23 percent in Miami relied on child care provided free by a friend or family member.

Poor public transportation was a common complaint in all three sites. As a result, a driver’s license and access to a car were high priorities for refugees. Eighty-one to 93 percent of refugees responded that they had a driver’s license and most had access to a car or truck to get to work. Most refugees also received transportation assistance at some point. (Transportation assistance was described in the survey as a van service; help paying for gas or for repairs to a vehicle; or tokens, passes, or vouchers for public transportation.)

Back to Table of Contents

E. Monthly Income

The survey asked refugees to detail all sources of their income in the previous month and, if they were married and living with their spouse, their spouse’s income. Total monthly incomes for refugee families ranged from about $1,700 in Houston and Miami to $2,100 in Sacramento. Most of this income came from earnings, although 19 percent came from other sources in Sacramento.

Table IV.8: Monthly Income

	Houston		Miami		Sacramento
Measure	Dollars ($)	% of total	Dollars ($)	% of total	Dollars ($)	% of total
Earnings	1,619	93	1,653	95	1,695	81
Cash assistance	19	1	15	1	148	7
Food Stamps	54	3	25	1	122	6
Disability income	29	2	7	0	90	4
Unemployment compensation	8	0	10	1	8	0
Other income	9	1	31	2	17	1
Total income	1,738	100	1,742	100	2,080	100
Sample size	316		335		306

Source: Refugee Assistance Survey
Note: Percents may not total 100 percent because of rounding.

In all three sites, refugees’ average annual income is modest and about at the federal poverty threshold for a family of four in 2006 (about $20,614 a year).47

About three-quarters of all refugees in Houston and Miami, and half of all refugees in Sacramento, sent remittances back to their friends or family in their native country at some point (see Table VI.9). The average amount refugees had sent since entering the country was about $3,000 in Houston and $2,000 in Miami and Sacramento. Over half of refugees (54 percent) in Houston, 43 percent in Miami, and 34 percent in Sacramento reported sending back more than $1,000 since entering the country.

Table VI.9: Remittances

Measure	Houston	Miami	Sacramento
Ever sent remittances to friends or family (%)	74	72	49
Total amount sent since entry:
$1–$500 (%)	26	36	37
$501–$1,000 (%)	20	21	29
More than $1,000 (%)	54	43	34
Average ($)	2,970	2,113	1,955
Sample size	316	335	306

Source: Refugee Assistance Survey

Back to Table of Contents

46 The wages are not inflation adjusted, and the sample includes only those who had two separate jobs, so it does not measure wage increases from a single job.

47 U.S. Census Bureau, “Poverty Thresholds 2006”, available at http://www.census.gov/hhes/www/poverty/threshld/thresh06.html.