Newcomers struggled to survive in the city on hard work and low wages but settled in neighborhoods populated by friends and relatives from back home, or at least people who spoke the same language. The city became a conglomeration of races, tongues, and customs—and somehow managed to tolerate, even appreciate, them all. In the late 1930s European intellectuals, musicians, and artists sought refuge there and the city emerged from World War II as a world cultural center. The burgeoning population spread over five boroughs—Brooklyn, the Bronx, Manhattan, Queens, and Staten Island—and each grew into the equivalent of a major city.
The City Studied Its Modern Immigrants
In 1992 the New York City Department of City Planning prepared a detailed analysis of the city's immigration patterns during the 1980s. The information was designed to help policymakers and service providers gain perspective on the city they served. The information proved so valuable that the Planning Department continued to study the city's immigration patterns and publish periodic reports. Based on the 2000 census, the fourth such study, The Newest New Yorkers, 2000: Immigrant New York in the New Millennium, was released in October 2004.
The report noted that after 1950 most U.S. cities in the Northeast and Midwest experienced population declines. The thriving postwar economy made houses affordable; subsequently, many families moved to new homes in the suburbs. New shopping and business centers followed, resulting in economic changes and job losses for established urban areas. While New York experienced similar suburban flight, a steady influx of immigrants replenished the city's population. In 2000, New York City's total population reached a peak of more than eight million. Among those were 2.9 million foreign-born residents, the greatest
FIGURE 7.1
New York City population change, 1990–2000
Immigration Gave the City Stability
The introduction to The Newest New Yorkers summed up the impact of immigrants and illegal aliens on the city:
New York City's demography is not static, but a dynamic process defined by the ebb and flow of people. As some people leave the city for points in the region and beyond, the city's population continues to be replenished by the flow of new immigrants. These demographic processes result in a unique level of diversity: 43% of the city's 2.9 million foreign-born residents arrived in the U.S. in the previous ten years; 46% of the population speaks a language other than English at home; in just thirty years, what was primarily a European population has now become a place with no dominant race/ethnic or nationality group. Indeed, New York epitomizes the world city. The importance of immigration in stabilizing New York City's population is only exceeded by the huge impact it has had on the city's racial and ethnic composition. With the passage of the 1965 amendments to the Immigration and Nationality Act, the countries from which immigrants originated shifted from southern and eastern Europe to Latin America, Asia, and the Caribbean. As a result, New York City experienced a dramatic shift in its racial composition, from a population that was mostly European to one where no group comprises a majority.
FIGURE 7.2
Distribution of population by nativity, New York City and United States, 2000
New York City and the United States Compared
Immigrants accounted for 11% of the total U.S. population in 2000. By contrast, foreign-born residents comprised 36% of New York City's 2000 population. (See Figure 7.2.) The share of foreign-born residents in New York City rose by 8% over 1990 census figures, while the country as a whole experienced a 3% rise. New York City's foreign-born residents reached a peak of 41% of the city's population in 1910.
In addition, the regions of origin of New York City's foreign-born population differed from those of immigrants to the country as a whole. While almost half (46.6%) of
FIGURE 7.3
Origin of foreign-born population, New York City and the United States, 2000
The mix of foreign-born residents in New York City was quite different from that of the overall United States. Almost one-third (29.5%) of all U.S. foreign-born residents recorded by the 2000 census were from Mexico. Yet, in New York City, Mexicans accounted for just 4.3% of foreign-born residents. Vietnam, Cuba, Canada, El Salvador, and Germany were among the top ten countries of origin for immigrants to the United States, but those countries were not even in the top twenty sources of immigrants for New York City. More than half of all immigrants from the Dominican Republic lived in New York City in 2000 and they made up 12.8% of the city's foreign-born population. Yet, the Dominican Republic was not among the top ten countries of origin for the overall U.S. immigrant population. Table 7.1 and Figure 7.4 offer a comparison of the top countries of birth for all U.S. immigrants and for those living in New York City.
In 1970 white non-Hispanics represented almost two-thirds of the city's population; by 2000, no single group comprised a majority according to the Planning Department study. White non-Hispanics dropped to 24% of the population while Hispanics became the largest group at 34%. The graph in Figure 7.5 illustrates the balancing of racial and ethnic groups over three decades of population change.
Changes in Immigration Laws Altered Sources
of Immigrants
According to The Newest New Yorkers, the 1990 Immigration Act changed the countries of origin for immigrants arriving in New York City. The number of naturalized citizens grew from 855,000 in 1990 to 1.3 million in 2000. These new citizens made increasing use of the "immediate relatives" visas to bring in spouses, minor children, and parents. The most dramatic change came in the increased share of refugees, rising from 5.1% in the 1980s to 13.5% in the 1990s. (See Figure 7.6.) The majority of refugee arrivals came from former Soviet republics. The increased use of "diversity" visas brought more immigrants from Poland, Ireland, Bangladesh, Ghana, Nigeria, and Albania. (See Table 7.2.)
TABLE 7.1
Foreign-born population by country of birth, New York City, 1990 and 2000
| 2000 | 1990 | Growth, 1990–2000 | ||||
| Rank | Number | Rank | Number | Number | Percent | |
| Total, Foreign-born | — | 2,871,032 | — | 2,082,931 | 788,101 | 37.8 |
| Dominican Republic | 1 | 369,186 | 1 | 225,017 | 144,169 | 64.1 |
| China | 2 | 261,551 | 2 | 160,399 | 101,152 | 63.1 |
| Jamaica | 3 | 178,922 | 3 | 116,128 | 62,794 | 54.1 |
| Guyana | 4 | 130,647 | 6 | 76,150 | 54,497 | 71.6 |
| Mexico | 5 | 122,550 | 17 | 32,689 | 89,861 | 274.9 |
| Ecuador | 6 | 114,944 | 10 | 60,451 | 54,493 | 90.1 |
| Haiti | 7 | 95,580 | 7 | 71,892 | 23,688 | 32.9 |
| Trinidad & Tobago | 8 | 88,794 | 12 | 56,478 | 32,316 | 57.2 |
| Colombia | 9 | 84,404 | 8 | 65,731 | 18,673 | 28.4 |
| Russia | 10 | 81,408 | * | * | * | * |
| Italy | 11 | 72,481 | 4 | 98,868 | (26,387) | −26.7 |
| Korea | 12 | 70,990 | 11 | 56,949 | 14,041 | 24.7 |
| Ukraine | 13 | 69,727 | * | * | * | * |
| India | 14 | 68,263 | 14 | 40,419 | 27,844 | 68.9 |
| Poland | 15 | 65,999 | 9 | 61,265 | 4,734 | 7.7 |
| Philippines | 16 | 49,644 | 16 | 36,463 | 13,181 | 36.1 |
| Bangladesh | 17 | 42,865 | 42 | 8,695 | 34,170 | 393.0 |
| Pakistan | 18 | 39,165 | 29 | 14,911 | 24,254 | 162.7 |
| Honduras | 19 | 32,358 | 27 | 17,890 | 14,468 | 80.9 |
| Greece | 20 | 29,805 | 18 | 31,894 | (2,089) | −6.5 |
| *The USSR was ranked 5th in 1990 with 80,815 residents. If it were a single entity in 2000, it would have ranked 4th with approximately 164,000 persons. | ||||||
FIGURE 7.4
Foreign-born population by country of birth, United States, 2000
Demographic profiles of New York City's foreign-born residents provide a variety of cultural and family information. The New York City sex ratio (the number of males per one hundred females) was 90 in the year 2000. However, for immigrants from Pakistan the sex ratio was 161. Men from that culture often immigrated alone, established themselves in the United States, and then sent for wives and children. In non-Hispanic Caribbean cultures, women tended to immigrate first and the men followed. Thus the sex ratio for Trinidad and Tobago was just 70. Households with immigrants from Bangladesh, China, Pakistan, and Greece typically were comprised of married couples. The highest rate of married couple households was 78.8% among immigrants from Bangladesh. Female-headed households were more likely among immigrants from the Dominican Republic (38.8%), Jamaica (33.1%), and Honduras (32.3%). (See Table 7.3.)
Impact of Education, Language, and Job Skills on
Immigrant Assimilation
The New York City study demonstrates the challenges of simply surviving in America. New immigrants depended on the education and skills they brought with them and the support system of already established immigrants who spoke their language. Many immigrant families shared housing with extended family and needed multiple workers to support the household. Even with pooled resources, many families struggled in the city. Foreign-born males had a higher rate of participation in the labor force (66.9%) than native-born
FIGURE 7.5
Population by race/Hispanic origin, New York City, 1970–2000
Immigrants from the Philippines arrived in New York City with high educational levels (93.4% were high school graduates). Although one-fourth of these immigrants were not proficient in English, as a group they attained the highest median household income of any immigrant group ($70,500), suggesting that many had college educations. They also had an average of 1.6 workers per household and high labor force participation rates for both men (73.7%) and women (67.4%). Only 5.3% of immigrants from the Philippines lived in poverty. (See Table 7.4.)
In comparison, just one-third of Mexican immigrants had completed high school and 76.2% were not proficient in English. They had the highest average number of workers per household at 1.8 and the highest poverty rate at 32%. (See Table 7.4.)
ENGLISH PROFICIENCY IS DOWN.
In "Proficiency in English Decreases Over a Decade" (New York Times, January 19, 2005), Nina Bernstein reported
FIGURE 7.6
Immigrants admitted by class of admission, New York City, 1982–89 and 1990–99
The problem of providing English language classes to meet the needs of new residents was compounded,
TABLE 7.2
Top users of employment and diversity visas by country of birth, New York City, 1990–99
| Annual average employment visas | Annual average diversity visas | ||||||
| Total | Employment | Employment as a % of total | Total | Diversity | Diversity as a % of total | ||
| Total | 104,870 | 10,391 | 9.9 | Total | 104,870 | 8,557 | 8.2 |
| China | 11,127 | 2,915 | 26.2 | Poland | 2,985 | 1,407 | 46.9 |
| Philippines | 2,657 | 1,115 | 42.0 | Ireland | 1,391 | 1,236 | 88.9 |
| India | 2,851 | 475 | 16.6 | Bangladesh | 2,899 | 1,231 | 42.5 |
| Trinidad & Tobago | 2,859 | 464 | 16.2 | Ghana | 919 | 441 | 48.0 |
| Korea | 1,531 | 426 | 27.8 | Ukraine | 5,494 | 348 | 6.3 |
| Jamaica | 6,112 | 373 | 6.1 | Pakistan | 2,107 | 292 | 13.9 |
| Guyana | 5,144 | 325 | 6.3 | Nigeria | 794 | 290 | 36.5 |
| Poland | 2,985 | 292 | 9.8 | Russia | 3,034 | 288 | 9.5 |
| Ecuador | 2,963 | 277 | 9.3 | Albania | 423 | 250 | 59.2 |
| Israel | 717 | 260 | 36.2 | Egypt | 757 | 215 | 28.4 |
TABLE 7.3
Selected demographic characteristics by country of birth, New York City, 2000
| Population | Households | |||||||
| Total | % ages 18 to 64 | Sex ratio* | Total | % married couple | % female head, no spouse | % owner-occupied | % overcrowded | |
| Total, NYC | 8,008,278 | 64.2 | 90 | 3,020,980 | 37.9 | 18.8 | 30.3 | 14.6 |
| Native-born | 5,137,246 | 55.9 | 89 | 1,816,243 | 31.0 | 18.9 | 31.6 | 7.5 |
| Foreign-born | 2,871,032 | 79.0 | 91 | 1,204,737 | 48.2 | 18.7 | 28.3 | 25.4 |
| Dominican Republic | 369,186 | 81.7 | 80 | 142,042 | 38.9 | 38.6 | 8.5 | 38.0 |
| China | 261,551 | 79.2 | 94 | 95,086 | 65.6 | 9.0 | 42.2 | 34.2 |
| Jamaica | 178,922 | 81.0 | 71 | 80,990 | 33.8 | 33.1 | 36.9 | 16.5 |
| Guyana | 130,647 | 83.3 | 87 | 48,054 | 55.5 | 21.9 | 48.5 | 22.6 |
| Mexico | 122,550 | 85.1 | 154 | 32,201 | 55.8 | 13.7 | 5.7 | 66.1 |
| Ecuador | 114,944 | 84.7 | 115 | 37,276 | 55.2 | 19.2 | 17.6 | 41.7 |
| Haiti | 95,580 | 80.3 | 76 | 40,694 | 43.2 | 30.7 | 30.2 | 26.4 |
| Trinidad & Tobago | 88,794 | 81.7 | 70 | 40,036 | 38.5 | 31.6 | 32.3 | 18.1 |
| Colombia | 84,404 | 82.7 | 75 | 31,705 | 42.3 | 24.3 | 20.8 | 34.9 |
| Russia | 81,408 | 70.8 | 83 | 37,624 | 52.0 | 10.8 | 20.9 | 18.0 |
| Italy | 72,481 | 60.3 | 92 | 42,938 | 58.7 | 8.8 | 64.5 | 2.6 |
| Korea | 70,990 | 84.1 | 83 | 25,979 | 58.4 | 9.2 | 20.0 | 35.5 |
| Ukraine | 69,727 | 63.4 | 84 | 32,388 | 58.6 | 10.0 | 19.8 | 20.0 |
| India | 68,263 | 84.8 | 123 | 26,889 | 68.4 | 4.9 | 32.7 | 31.5 |
| Poland | 65,999 | 64.4 | 87 | 33,226 | 48.5 | 9.0 | 31.4 | 10.8 |
| Philippines | 49,644 | 83.5 | 70 | 18,840 | 52.4 | 15.9 | 41.1 | 26.3 |
| Bangladesh | 42,865 | 79.9 | 137 | 11,585 | 78.8 | 3.3 | 18.4 | 60.8 |
| Pakistan | 39,165 | 76.3 | 161 | 12,294 | 64.6 | 2.6 | 17.6 | 53.2 |
| Honduras | 32,358 | 85.5 | 85 | 11,800 | 41.3 | 32.3 | 9.8 | 37.7 |
| Greece | 29,805 | 73.2 | 115 | 15,067 | 64.1 | 7.7 | 54.9 | 7.6 |
| *Males per 100 females | ||||||||
according to Ms. Bernstein, by the fact that the city's foreign-born population spoke 175 to 200 different languages. An added difficulty in teaching new residents to read and write English was the low educational level of many immigrants, who often were not able to read and write their own language. Adding to the long-term problem, the foreign-born groups with the highest rates of difficulty with English also had the highest birth rate.
A meeting of public and private agencies involved in teaching English to newcomers identified further challenges. They concluded that many existing literacy programs were not located in or near areas where the people with the greatest need lived. Furthermore, some funding sources for literacy programs required participants to provide a Social Security number when registering. As a result, many illegal residents feared participation could lead to deportation.
TABLE 7.4
Selected socioeconomic characteristics by country of birth, New York City, 2000
| Males, ages 16+ | Females, ages 16+ | ||||||||
| % not English proficient | % high school graduate | Average workers per hhld | Median household income | % in poverty | Labor force particip. rate | Mean earnings (full time) | Labor force particip. rate | Mean earnings (full time) | |
| Total, NYC | 23.7 | 72.3 | 1.1 | $37,700 | 21.1 | 64.5 | $50,771 | 52.0 | $40,369 |
| Native-born | 8.6 | 78.4 | 1.0 | $39,900 | 21.5 | 62.6 | $60,754 | 53.1 | $45,960 |
| Foreign-born | 48.2 | 64.7 | 1.2 | $35,000 | 20.4 | 66.9 | $39,060 | 50.6 | $32,293 |
| Dominican Republic | 70.0 | 43.8 | 1.1 | $25,300 | 30.9 | 60.6 | $25,746 | 46.4 | $21,342 |
| China | 74.6 | 54.6 | 1.5 | $33,320 | 21.7 | 66.0 | $31,799 | 52.8 | $28,278 |
| Jamaica | 1.7 | 68.7 | 1.3 | $38,500 | 14.6 | 70.0 | $35,967 | 64.7 | $32,323 |
| Guyana | 3.1 | 65.4 | 1.5 | $41,960 | 13.4 | 72.9 | $32,895 | 60.7 | $29,178 |
| Mexico | 76.2 | 34.7 | 1.8 | $32,000 | 32.0 | 72.2 | $21,284 | 39.7 | $16,737 |
| Ecuador | 71.2 | 52.8 | 1.5 | $36,000 | 21.9 | 69.0 | $24,254 | 46.9 | $20,937 |
| Haiti | 49.9 | 68.8 | 1.3 | $36,000 | 19.1 | 64.7 | $31,576 | 56.3 | $29,785 |
| Trinidad & Tobago | 1.5 | 73.0 | 1.3 | $36,300 | 16.5 | 71.1 | $35,054 | 63.6 | $32,756 |
| Colombia | 69.1 | 64.5 | 1.3 | $35,000 | 20.2 | 66.6 | $29,904 | 54.0 | $25,290 |
| Russia | 58.0 | 85.4 | 1.0 | $28,000 | 22.2 | 60.0 | $45,090 | 46.8 | $36,209 |
| Italy | 50.8 | 46.7 | 1.0 | $39,500 | 10.4 | 51.6 | $56,466 | 31.2 | $41,744 |
| Korea | 69.8 | 83.4 | 1.3 | $35,200 | 17.7 | 68.9 | $44,054 | 53.5 | $35,505 |
| Ukraine | 70.6 | 84.8 | 0.9 | $23,100 | 20.8 | 55.9 | $43,121 | 42.5 | $36,373 |
| India | 36.7 | 79.9 | 1.5 | $50,000 | 14.4 | 76.2 | $47,887 | 47.2 | $44,482 |
| Poland | 56.9 | 69.3 | 0.9 | $33,100 | 14.1 | 60.1 | $37,690 | 42.8 | $29,993 |
| Philippines | 24.9 | 93.4 | 1.6 | $70,500 | 5.3 | 73.7 | $42,958 | 67.4 | $51,051 |
| Bangladesh | 58.6 | 74.5 | 1.5 | $33,300 | 31.0 | 73.8 | $27,960 | 29.4 | $22,051 |
| Pakistan | 51.8 | 67.6 | 1.4 | $36,500 | 26.1 | 72.1 | $34,572 | 22.2 | $36,171 |
| Honduras | 64.5 | 42.3 | 1.1 | $27,000 | 27.7 | 67.0 | $26,998 | 44.2 | $21,030 |
| Greece | 56.5 | 50.9 | 1.2 | $43,930 | 13.4 | 61.8 | $51,023 | 36.8 | $35,667 |
The Foreign-Born in the Workforce
Given that the foreign-born accounted for 43% of all workers, according to The Newest New Yorkers, immigrants were a vital part of the city's labor force in 2000. They represented 64% of manufacturing workers and 58% of construction workers. More than one-third of foreign-born workers in manufacturing were employed in textile and apparel-producing industries. Immigrants represented more than half (54%) of all workers in accommodation, food, and other services. While the largest number (100,400) worked in restaurants, 23,800 were employed in private households and 21,100 worked in hotels or other traveler accommodation businesses. The city's hospitals, home health-care businesses, nursing facilities, schools, colleges, and universities employed 311,300 foreign-born workers. (See Figure 7.7.)
A number of entrepreneurial foreign-born residents established their own businesses. Many imported and sold goods from their home countries to other immigrants and tourists. Ethnic restaurants have long been an attraction of the city's neighborhoods and each new wave of immigrants added different scents and flavors that attracted city dwellers and visitors alike. Maggie Leung, as profiled by Joseph Berger for the New York Times ("Spotting a Niche, and Knowing How to Fill It; She Gave Customers What They Wanted: Work Uniforms," February 26, 2005), was an example of an immigrant woman who found a need and filled it. While working in her uncle's Brooklyn store, the Hong Kong immigrant heard customers ask if he sold waiter's jackets, or waitress's blouses. Ms. Leung enlisted the help of her sisters and began making uniforms. As Berger put it, if you "want to know what jobs people hold, just gaze in the window of Maggie Leung's uniform store … She sells burgundy vests for waiters, smocks with orange piping for beauticians, pink aprons for manicurists, [and] heavy cotton coats for meat cutters."
Immigrant women comprised one of the fastest growing groups of business owners in the United States, according to Susan C. Pearce ("Today's Immigrant Entrepreneur," Immigration Policy in Focus, Vol.4, no.1, January2005). Immigrant women were more likely than nonimmigrant women to own their own business. Pearce cited the 2000 census, which revealed that 8.3% of all employed immigrant women were business owners, compared to 6.2% of employed native-born women. Since 1990 immigrant women business owners had increased nearly 190%. According to Pearce, "Immigrant entrepreneurs represent a potential source of continued new business growth that brings a broad range of international skills to the work force."
Many foreign-born residents worked hard to realize the American dream of home ownership. Not surprisingly, those who had lived in the city longer and established
FIGURE 7.7
Nativity of labor force by selected industry, New York City, 2000
Housing type by nativity of household head, New York City, 2002
| Household heads | Percent distribution | |||||||
| Foreign-born | Foreign-born | |||||||
| Total | Total | Entered before 1990 | Entered 1990 or later | Total | Total | Entered before 1990 | Entered 1990 or later | |
| Total New York City | 3,005,323 | 1,291,309 | 861,033 | 430,276 | 100.0 | 43.0 | 28.7 | 14.3 |
| Owner-occupied | 981,815 | 392,847 | 335,963 | 56,884 | 100.0 | 40.0 | 34.2 | 5.8 |
| Conventional | 632,921 | 284,365 | 253,924 | 30,441 | 100.0 | 44.9 | 40.1 | 4.8 |
| Co-op/condo | 348,894 | 108,482 | 82,039 | 26,443 | 100.0 | 31.1 | 23.5 | 7.6 |
| Renter-occupied | 2,023,508 | 898,462 | 525,070 | 373,392 | 100.0 | 44.4 | 25.9 | 18.5 |
| Market rate | 638,368 | 309,515 | 161,570 | 147,945 | 100.0 | 48.5 | 25.3 | 23.2 |
| Controlled/stabilized | 1,047,719 | 491,594 | 291,412 | 200,182 | 100.0 | 46.9 | 27.8 | 19.1 |
| Government assisted | 151,523 | 57,361 | 39,849 | 17,512 | 100.0 | 37.9 | 26.3 | 11.6 |
| Public housing | 185,898 | 39,992 | 32,239 | 7,753 | 100.0 | 21.5 | 17.3 | 4.2 |
themselves in jobs were more able to buy homes. Of all owner-occupied dwellings in the city, 34.2% were owned by foreign-born residents who arrived before 1990, compared to just 5.8% owned by those who arrived during or after 1990. While the foreign-born population accounted for 43% of all households, they represented just 21.5% of public housing residents and 37.9% of those receiving government-housing assistance. (See Table 7.5.)
Impact of Immigration on the City's Population
The New York City Planning Department study defined population change as the net result of births, deaths, and
TABLE 7.6
Total births rank ordered by mother's birthplace, New York City,
2000
| Number | Percent | |
| Total births | 120,989 | 100.0 |
| Foreign-born mothers | 62,489 | 51.6 |
| Dominican Republic | 8,942 | 7.4 |
| Mexico | 6,408 | 5.3 |
| China | 5,676 | 4.7 |
| Jamaica | 4,050 | 3.3 |
| Guyana | 2,723 | 2.3 |
| Ecuador | 2,595 | 2.1 |
| Haiti | 2,052 | 1.7 |
| Trinidad & Tobago | 1,941 | 1.6 |
| India | 1,587 | 1.3 |
| Bangladesh | 1,414 | 1.2 |
| Pakistan | 1,396 | 1.2 |
| Colombia | 1,371 | 1.1 |
| Russia | 1,042 | 0.9 |
| Korea | 1,014 | 0.8 |
| Israel | 995 | 0.8 |
FIGURE 7.8
Components of population change, New York City, 2000–03
migration (persons entering and leaving the city) in a given period of time. Between 2000 and 2003 the population of New York City grew by about 1%, or roughly 77,000 people. Births exceeded deaths by more than 200,000. More than half of all births were to foreign-born women. Together, women originating in the Dominican Republic and Mexico accounted for 13% of all births in the city. (See Table 7.6.) During the same period, 475,000 residents left the city to live elsewhere. This loss was substantially offset by 339,000 people who moved into the city from within the United States and from other countries. (See Figure 7.8.)
The authors of The Newest New Yorkers concluded that "the post-1965 flow of immigrants to New York mitigated catastrophic population losses in the 1970s, stabilized the city's population in the 1980s, helped the city reach a new population peak in 2000, and continues to play a crucial role in the city's population growth."
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