This study examines the economic resources and retirement outlook of older foreign-born individuals and their families in the United States. Past research indicates that immigrants experience some disadvantages compared to the U.S.-born in the labor market due to migration and adjustment to a new culture as well as difficulty with the English language. Through the political economy and life course perspectives, stressing the importance of an individual's early experiences with the labor force, it is predicted that certain disadvantages will have an impact on retirement prospects as well as issues associated with old age. Nevertheless, there is a scarcity of research on the economic status of aging immigrants in the immigrant and retirement research, including the current research and discussion on Social Security reform.
Research questions and hypotheses are addressed by using the Wave I of the Health and Retirement Study (HRS) and the HRS Restricted Data Files. Findings from this study suggest that as a group, immigrants are likely to have low Social Security wealth and their income, assets and investment profiles are less than those of native-born counterparts are. Immigrants are also less likely to have employer-sponsored pensions and stock investment. If they do own stocks, the value of their holdings is likely to be much less.
Recommendations for addressing policy, practice, and research efforts are presented with the goal of improving the economic conditions of aging immigrants who are at risk of poverty in old age.
