Report: Mexican Immigrants Make More Money in Atlanta, Dallas
 Atlanta Journal-Constitution
| | A worker takes a customer's order at a mobile Mexican food stand in Nashville, Tenn. Dozens of wheeled food vendors run mainly by Hispanics and other immigrants throughout Nashville may be banned soon as part of a proposal by city lawmakers, who say the businesses are rife with health hazards. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey) |
Atlanta - Mexican immigrants in Atlanta and Dallas make more money than they do in other U.S. cities, according to a report by the Pew Hispanic Center.
The report, titled "The Economic Transition to America," says 56 percent earn higher than the weekly median salary of $300. That makes them the "best off" of Mexican immigrants in the seven cities studied, the report says.
"Atlanta is a new settlement where we're seeing an inflow of new arrivals and more males working construction," said Rakesh Kochhar, the report's author.
Construction jobs tend to pay more than other jobs, including agriculture, Kochhar said.
Migrants who earned the least lived in Fresno, Calif., where most worked in the fields.
The report is part of a series of studies on Mexican migrants produced by the Washington-based Pew Hispanic Center. Researchers polled 4,836 Mexican residents at consulates in Atlanta, New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Dallas, Raleigh, N.C., and Fresno from July 12, 2004, to Jan. 28, 2005.
The results show that many illegal immigrants from Mexico left jobs there to earn higher wages in the United States. There are an estimated 6.3 million illegal Mexican immigrants in the United States, Kochhar said. About half are adult workers.
Those wage earners had jobs in Mexico, but left because they felt the United States offered better prospects, the report says.
Jose Cruz of Chamblee fits the profile of a migrant as outlined in the report.
He worked construction in San Luis Potosi, Mexico, in the afternoons while finishing middle school. But at 15, he was convinced he would do better in the United States and crossed the border illegally 11 years ago.
"It's a better life here," he said in Spanish.
Now, he works in a laundry during the winter and as a painter and carpenter during the warm months and earns about $280 a week, slightly under the median.
The perception of a better life in the United States means policies meant to reduce illegal immigration may need to do more than focus on improving the Mexican economy, the report says. Policies may also need to address wages in Mexico, job quality, long-term prospects and perceptions of opportunity, according to Pew researchers.
On the Net: Pew Hispanic Center: www.pewhispanic.org |
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News from Around the Americas | December 2005 
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