Comments to
Comprehensive Wealth of Immigrants and Natives
(David Love and Lucie Schmidt)
17th Annual Retirement Research Consortium Conference
National Press Club, Washington DC
María E. Enchautegui
Senior Fellow
Urban Institute
The findings of this paper that stood out for me
were the following:
• Immigrants have less wealth than comparable natives during retirement .
For instance, at age 75-85 the median comprehensive wealth of
immigrants is 69 percent of natives’.
• Housing wealth is the exception: Immigrants have more housing wealth
than comparable natives. Growth in housing wealth is also higher for
immigrants.
• Recent immigration cohorts, those who arrived after 1984, have poorer
retirement wealth than prior immigrant cohorts, even after controlling for
many personal characteristics.
I would like to see more discussion in this paper
about:
• Emigration
• Undocumented immigrants in the sample
• Cohort effects versus period effects
• Meaning of findings for well-being of immigrant retirees
• Policy implications
Emigration: Are the observed patterns in any way
affected by emigration?
Are retired immigrants who sell their homes leaving the country to enjoy
retirement in their home countries?
 If this is the case, can we say for sure that immigrants keep their homes for a
longer time or it is that the data are capturing those who keep their homes?
We know that emigration rates (from SSA data):




are around 1.3 percent per year
are lower wage workers are more likely to emigrate
are lower for persons from Mexico are less likely to emigrate
decline with time in the US
 Not sure about what we know about emigration of retirement-age immigrants.
Undocumented immigrants: How the observed
patterns are affected by undocumented immigration?
It is possible that there are very few undocumented immigrants over the age of
65. They either self-deport of become legal immigrants across time.
 Periods of undocumented status are quite common according to the research
by Jasso and Rosenzweig: How can these periods of illegality may be affecting
the wealth of immigrants at retirement age.
Immigrant Cohort Effects:
 Not clear from the paper if these are truly cohort effects because I did not see
control for period effects.
 Not clear if the more recent cohorts are of “lower quality” using the terms of
Borjas or if they are entering the US in a very difficult time. The historical
economic moment immigrants enter the country shapes their mobility prospects
(Portes).
 The post-1984 cohort is also interesting because a large number of these
immigrants came sponsored by family members who were IRCA legalized.
Would that be part of the explanation for their low performance? Borjas work
shows that immigrants who follow their families have poorer earnings prospects
(Borjas and Bronars)
 Among the recent cohort you also have people who come at old age, being
brought by their children and they may not be doing very well. The paper does
not include age of arrival.
Interpretation of findings: What these findings mean
for the well-being of immigrants?
What having housing wealth at older agers affects their wellbeing during older age?
Poverty Rates and Number Poor by Nativity and
Naturalization Status , Age 65 and older (2013)
Natives
Immigrants Citizens
Immigrants,
Noncitizens
11.6%
16.1%
23.1%
4,500,000
678,422
356,245
Percentage of Income Spent on Housing by Housing Tenure:
Age 65 and older, 2013
Own home, free and clear
Home with a mortgage
18%
26%
Renters
43%
Source Richard Johnson, Urban Institute Housing Costs and Financial Challenges for
Low-Income Older Adults
Interpretation of findings: What these findings mean
for policy?
 Information: Could it also be that immigrants are less informed about how to
manage their wealth portfolio during retirement and if they were better informed
they will sell their homes during retirement as native do?
 Legalization programs: Failure to pass a legalization bill could mean longer
time as undocumented without paying social security and difficult to plan for the
future. Eventually these immigrants will enter retirement with very little economic
security.
 Access to government jobs: Exclusion of legal permanent residents from
government jobs has implications for retirement income since government is still
one of the major providers of pension plans in this country.
A couple of minor points:
• Present numbers of how many people we are talking about.
• What is the distribution of immigrants according to entry cohort?
• Update references in footnote 3, there is more recent work that could be
cited.
• Talk about results on Table 3 by education
• Some distinction by naturalization status if possible