CSDE Seminar: Success or Self-Sufficiency? The Role of Race in Refugees’ Long-Term Economic Outcomes
Posted: 10/19/2023 (CSDE Seminar Series)
Please join CSDE in welcoming Rebbeca Tesfai (Temple University) along with co-sponsors, the Population Health Initiative and the Horn of Africa Initiative. Dr. Tesfai’s seminar will take place from 12:30-1:30PM on Friday, Oct. 207th in 360 Parrington Hall and on Zoom. Dr. Tesfai will also be available for 1-1 meetings throughout the day. Sign up here if you would like to meet!
The United States has always prided itself as providing safe haven to those who are persecuted. Yet, the United States did not develop policy for admitting and resettling refugees until 1980. Unlike Asians and Europeans, African refugees in the 1980s were chosen primarily based on skill, but no research thus far examines whether this strategy led to greater long-term economic success for African refugees. This paper examines racial differences in refugees’ likelihood of living in poverty, receiving welfare income, engaging in full-time employment and wages between 1990 and 2019. Dr. Tesfai finds that refugees show improvement in all four outcomes. African refugees, however, earn less than nearly all other groups in all time periods suggesting blocked mobility, particularly among men. Analyses focus on the 1982–1987 entry cohort of refugees who had access to more assistance than future cohorts. Consequently, these findings likely show the best-case scenario for refugees’ long-term economic outcomes.
Rebbeca Tesfai is an Associate Professor of Sociology at Temple University. Her research provides a comprehensive account of Black immigrants’ economic, political, and residential incorporation over time and across place. As a social demographer, she uses these analyses to re-examine our theoretical understanding of both immigrant incorporation and racial stratification. Her work has been published in race/ethnicity, urban, and immigration journals including International Migration Review, Ethnic and Racial Studies, Sociology of Race and Ethnicity, and the Journal of Refugee Studies.
After the seminar, CSDE Trainee Courtney Allen will facilitate a graduate student discussion with Dr. Tesfai from 1:30-2:15 in Raitt 221. Students will have the opportunity to discuss research collaborations, professional development, academic publishing, and interdisciplinary research, among other topics. Please email Courtney (ckallen@uw.edu) by 12pm Wednesday to meet.
Date: 10/27/2023
Time: 12:30-1:30PM
Location: 360 Parrington Hall and on Zoom