Your tax dollars:
Everytime I hear a Presidential candidate (Edwards for instance) say we need to combat poverty in America, or, we hear from Hillary and Obama that we need health care for the poor; I shake my head. Will these ever go away as drumbeat issues when we are adding to our welfare rolls daily through our immigration policy, or in the case of illegal aliens, the lack of any policy?
In my research on the Work Opportunity Tax Credit (post later when I have a little more time), I came back to the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) annual report to Congress. The latest available on-line is the 2005 report; it’s a treasure trove of information. I’ve written about this before but with almost 250 posts here at RRW, I couldn’t find it! It is worth repeating:
All in all, past surveys have described a consistent process of advancement, slow at first, and halting for some, but sustained nevertheless, toward integration with the American mainstream. The 2005 survey, in contradistinction, describes a much more serious struggle. The 2005 survey reveals a definite turndown in refugee resettlement advancement as measured by the general labor force participation and welfare utilization data. The survey indicates that the educational background of the five-year refugee population is substantially weaker than that reported in previous surveys. Fewer refugees have finished higher school, and fewer still have finished a college degree. A smaller proportion of arriving refugees can speak English fluently and a higher proportion speak no English at all. This has translated into lower labor force participation, as measured by the employment rate which has retreated from 62 percent in the 2004 survey to 58 percent this year.
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Moreover, the jobs that refugees find are of poorer quality than seen in previous surveys. This year the average age declined about five percent from the year before after considering the effects of inflation. Even more troubling is the dramatic decline in employer-related health benefits: Five years ago, two-thirds of respondents could claim such coverage; today, only one-fifth can make that claim.
Some other interesting statistics from the report: For refugees arriving in 2005, 27% received cash assistance and 11% lived in public housing. Those numbers were the norm for the 6 years shown in the report. However, two numbers rose considerably. 39% received medicare and 53% were on food stamps prompting conclusions like those outlined in the above segment of the report.
For those of you who love to look at statistics, check ORR’s annual reports back to 1997.