SHARED PROSPECTS:
HISPANICS AND THE FUTURE OF HOUSTON FINDINGS FROM THE HOUSTON SURVEYS (1994-2014)
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
INTRODUCTION Thirty years ago, Houston was a biracial, Anglodominated southern city. Today, the Houston area is the single most ethnically diverse major metropolitan region in the country. The transformation has been driven largely by Hispanics, who now comprise more than 40 percent of Harris County’s population and who are generally less well prepared than their mostly Anglo predecessors to succeed in the new high-tech, knowledge-based, global economy. What are the characteristics of the Hispanic communities in Harris County? And how well are they succeeding as they seek to make their way in today’s economy? To address these questions, the Kinder Institute’s new report draws on findings from 21 years of surveys in Harris County.
The systematic telephone interviews have reached representative samples of 4,829 U.S.born Hispanics and 4,291 Hispanic immigrants, enabling an analysis of the differences among the immigrants by country of origin and by the length of time they have been living in the United States. The data also clarify the differences among U.S.-born Hispanics by whether they are part of the second generation (with at least one parent born outside the United States) or the third generation and beyond (with both parents born in America). Most of the results contained in this report stretch over time, sometimes looking back to just five years, other times aggregating all 21 annual surveys, always with an indication of whether responses to these questions have changed across the years.
Shared Prospects: Hispanics and the Future of Houston
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of 12 successive age groups. The data give eloquent witness to the powerful relationship between ethnicity and age that underlies the impending demographic revolution. Figure 1: Percent Anglo and Hispanic by Age Group in Harris County Figure 1: Percent Anglo and Hispanic by Age Group in Harris County 80
Non-Hispanic Whites
70
61
60
54
52
49
50
48
47
20
21
22
24
25
25
29
28
54
50
46
45
40 30
Hispanics
43 41 31
32 24
21
17
10 0
Source: U.S. CensusBureau, Bureau, 2008-2012 2008 2012 American Community Survey 5 year estimates. Source: U.S. Census American Community Survey five-year estimates.
The Growth Houston’s Clear Evidence for In Immigrant Advancement Among allin area residentsHispanic who are Population aged 75 or older, 61 percent are Anglo. each younger age group, especially after the “baby boomers,” who were aged 50 to 68 in 2014, the percentage of whites drops, while the percentage of Hispanics grows. The numbers despite of blacksthe andeducational Thenon-Hispanic Hispanic share of the Harris County population Are Hispanic immigrants, Asians shown in figure) largelyinunchanged across the age groups, withtheir the Africangrew from(not 6 percent in the 1960 to 41are percent 2010. deficits, managing to work way out of poverty American percentages ranging 16Los to 21 percent atthe thelonger different and Asians andDo others Today, the county ranks second, justfrom behind Angeles, theyages, are in this country? they recognize from 6 to 8 percent. Among all area residents aged 65 and older, just 19 percent are Hispanic, but becoming in having the largest Hispanic population of any county the importance of education? Are they Latinos comprise 51 percent of all the residents of the county who are under the age of 20. in America, with a total of more than 1.7 million. increasingly assimilated into American society? Or Moreover, the median age of the Hispanic residents of does the evidence support instead a narrative of In the Houston Independent School District (HISD), the seventh largest school district in the and deliberate Harris County is 27, compared to a median age of 42 intractable poverty, stalled progress, 8 This nation, 62 percent of the 211,000 students enrolled in the year 2013-2014 were Hispanic. for the Anglo population. More than half of all Harris isolation from the American mainstream? Across a predominantly Latino younger generation will be coming into the Houston workforce at a time County residents under 20 years of age are now Hispanic variety of socioeconomic indicators and attitudinal when trained intelligence has become more important than ever before in determining a person’s (Figure 1). measures, we find evidence for both narratives, ability to find a job that will pay a living wage. Houston’s future will depend on the success but more for the story of upward mobility than for these young people are able to achieve in today’s knowledge-based economy. About 70 percent of Harris County’s foreign-born deepening poverty. Hispanics have come from Mexico. Another 20 percent come from Central America, a figure that has risen in The data make it clear that Hispanic immigrants are The New Economy recent years. The remaining 10 percent are from Cuba, managing over time to work their way out of poverty, to In the years between 1880and andthese 1924,immigrants the last great immigration brought 26 health insurance South America, or Europe, are“wave” ownoftheir own homes, and tosome obtain 9 million largely unskilled immigrants from southern and eastern Europe into this country. The generally better educated than U.S.-born Anglos. Thus for themselves and their families. The longer they live was atimmigrant the beginnings of an 80-year of vigorous 90 nation percentinof1900 Hispanic families have come period in this country,industrial the moreexpansion fluent theythat are in English, 6 Mexico, The Kinder Urban Researchin Central from El Institute Salvador,forand elsewhere the more they think of themselves as American, and America; they have generally arrived here with a the more fully integrated they become into Houston’s strong work ethic, with great energy and optimism, multiethnic community. The surveys provide no but with very low levels of formal education. support for the claim that Hispanic immigrants and their children are remaining ensconced within Houston’s ethnic enclaves, speaking only Spanish, devaluing education, and purposefully resisting “cultural assimilation” into the American mainstream. 2 The Kinder Institute for Urban Research
In addition, U.S.-born Hispanics – often the children or grandchildren of immigrants – are doing much better than current immigrants on virtually all measures of economic well-being, and they express views regarding women’s roles, abortion rights, gay marriage, and civil liberties that are generally similar to those of the U.S.born Anglos and blacks. All the evidence suggests that today’s Hispanic immigrants are becoming fully “American” in ways that parallel the last great wave of immigration (1890-1924), when similar concerns were expressed about the newcomers from eastern and southern Europe. In terms of cultural absorption, then, the traditional story of immigrant assimilation is supported. Stalled Progress among U.S.-Born Hispanics U.S.-born Hispanics have advanced much farther than first-generation immigrants in general, but improvement slows dramatically after this point. The third and later generations are not obtaining substantially more education or making more money in better jobs than the second generation. U.S.-born Hispanics as a group closely resemble native-born blacks on these measures of socioeconomic status, suggesting that the two communities are facing many of the same structural barriers that hamper efforts to succeed in today’s economy.
At a time when educational credentials are more important than ever before, Hispanic and AfricanAmerican children are generally relegated to segregated, overcrowded, underfunded inner-city schools with too few resources. They often come from families with very low levels of income and education, and they receive too little support and encouragement from the wider Houston community. All this has contributed to the devastating statistics shown in Table 1. Just 6.4 percent of all Hispanic seniors in HISD high schools (9.8 percent of the 64.6 percent of those who took the tests) were able to meet the criterion of “college readiness” on the SAT or ACT in 2011. Whatever the combination of forces responsible for the slowing of generational advancement, these are not obstacles that low-income families can readily overcome on their own. The critical question for Houston’s future rests with the fates of the 90 percent of all Hispanic immigrants and their children who have arrived into this knowledgebased economy from Mexico and Central America with great energy and optimism, but very low levels of formal education.
Table 1:By The Proportions of HISD High School Seniors Who Are “College Ready,” by Ethnicity Ethnicity SAT/ACT Scores by Ethnicity (HISD Class of 2011) Ethnicity
% At or Above Criterion*
% Tested
SAT Mean
ACT Mean
White
60.2
99.8
1134
25.0
Hispanic
9.8
64.6
866
18.0
Black
8.1
80.2
834
17.3
Asian
62.3
n/a
1157
26.3
*The criterion is 1110 on the SAT critical reading and mathematics combined and 24 on the ACT composite. The national averages for the class of 2011 were 1011 for the SAT and 21 for the ACT.65,66
Source: HISD 2012-2013 Facts and Figures.
Shared Prospects: Hispanics and the Future of Houston
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CONCLUSION The evidence reviewed in this report points to important strengths in the Hispanic community as a whole. The immigrants’ strong belief that hard work will be rewarded, their clear recognition of the importance of education, and their increasing integration into the wider Houston community, as well as the considerable advances made by U.S.born Hispanics compared to their immigrant counterparts – all the indications suggest that Houston’s Hispanic communities are ready to take advantage of any meaningful new opportunities that can help to overcome the barriers that now consign them to lives that offer little hope for a better future. More than half of all the young people (under age 20) in Harris County today are Hispanic and another fifth are African-American. If the achievement
gaps can be bridged effectively and soon, Houston will be well positioned to capitalize on having a young, multi-cultural and multi-lingual workforce, prepared to compete successfully in today’s global economy. Many promising initiatives are underway in the Houston region to support the hopes and ambitions of these rising generations, but much more is needed. Are the citizens and leaders of the broader Houston community prepared to undertake the sustained and committed efforts that will be required to ensure that all of the area’s young people have full access to the tools they need to succeed in today’s economy? The answer to that question will determine which of the two immigration narratives (upward mobility or deepening poverty) will ultimately describe the future of Houston. ■
November 2014 Kinder Institute for Urban Research Rice University, MS-208 6100 Main Street Houston, Texas 77005 Telephone: (713) 348-4132 http://kinder.rice.edu Authored by Stephen L. Klineberg, Principal Investigator Jie Wu, Research Project Manager Kiara Douds, Post-Baccalaureate Fellow Diane Ramirez, Summer Research Intern Contact us for more information at kinder@rice.edu Copyright © 2014 by Rice University’s Kinder Institute for Urban Research All rights reserved