by Valerie Lacarte, PhD
The historic nomination of Kamala Harris as the Democratic Vice-Presidential nominee highlights the Black community’s diversity. Senator Harris who is a proud African American – recall her presidential campaign launch from Howard University on MLK Day – often mentions her Indian mother and Jamaican father. Other examples of first, second and even third-generation Black Caribbean immigrants who broke barriers in recent political history include: Colin Powell, Yvette Clarke, Karl Racine, Frederica S. Wilson, Mia Love, Karine Jean-Pierre, Eric Holder, Susan Rice, to name a few. Black Caribbean immigrants and their children contribute to improving the Black experience in the US by taking an active role in dismantling barriers that plague all Black people.
Jamaicans and Haitians make up two thirds of Black Caribbean immigrants and 9 out of 10 Black Caribbean immigrants live on the East coast.
Since the 1950s, a combination of low economic opportunities, political instability, crime and natural disasters have pushed thousands out of the Caribbean. In the US, the number of people born in the Caribbean who identifies as Black totals 2,083,488, representing 44% of all Black immigrants in the US. Jamaicans and Haitians make up two thirds of Black Caribbean immigrants, followed by Trinidadians, Dominicans, and in smaller numbers Barbadians, Cubans, Grenadians and Bahamians.
Table 1. Number of Black Caribbean Immigrants living in the US by Country of Birth
Source: Author’s analysis of the 2014-2018 American Community Surveys. Note: All ages. All people who self-identify in the ACS as Black only or in combination with another race/ethnicity.
About 64% of Black Caribbean immigrants are naturalized US citizens; non-citizens include permanent residents, individuals with non-immigrant authorizations (student, H1B, diplomatic visas, refugees, etc.) and undocumented migrants. The majority of Black Caribbean immigrants live along the East coast with the largest concentrations in Florida (32%), New York (31%) and New Jersey (7%).
Figure 1. State of Residence of Black Caribbean Immigrants
Source: Author’s analysis of the 2014-2018 American Community Surveys. Note: States identified on the map represent 88% of Black Caribbean immigrants. Other states not identified have 0-2% of Black Caribbean immigrants.
Black Caribbean immigrants have lower levels of education than African Americans; African American Women are the most educated.
One in five Black Caribbean immigrant has a bachelor’s degree or higher - about the same share as African Americans. An important difference is that 23% of Black Caribbean immigrants do not have a High School degree, which is much higher than among African Americans (16% of men and 13% of women). African American women are the most educated group shown in the figure below: 23% of them have at least a bachelor’s degree.
Figure 2. Highest Degree Obtained by Black Caribbean Immigrants and African Americans, by Gender
Source: Author’s analysis of the 2014-2018 American Community Surveys. Note: Age 25 and older. Immigrants who came to the US as adults.
Black Caribbean Immigrant and African American workers earn about the same, but a higher proportion of African Americans are unemployed.
Considering only full-time year-round workers, the median annual earnings of Black Caribbean immigrants are about the same as those of African Americans: $40,000 for men and $36,000 for women.
While Black women are as educated - or more - than Black men, they earn less. Persistent gender inequality in the home – women typically do more household chores and childcare – pushes women into part-time work and often lower-paid jobs with little or no benefits. Many of these jobs are in the care and hospitality sectors where frontline workers are more vulnerable as we are seeing right now with the COVID-19 crisis.
Still, the gender wage gap in the Black population is one of the lowest across all racial and ethnic groups. Both Black Caribbean and African American women earn about 10% less than their male counterparts, compared to the 18%-20% gender wage gap in the general population.
Figure 3. Earnings of Black Caribbean Immigrant and African American Workers, by Gender
Source: Author’s analysis of the 2014-2018 American Community Surveys. Note: Median earnings of people 16 and older who work at least 35 hours a week for 36 weeks per year. Immigrants who came to the US as adults.
Black men tend to have among the highest unemployment rates in the US. But within the Black community, the Caribbean immigrant men’s unemployment rate is much lower than for African American men (7% vs. 11.7%). Black Caribbean immigrant women also have a lower unemployment rate than African American women.
Figure 4. Unemployed Black Caribbean Immigrants and African Americans, by Gender
Source: Author’s analysis of the 2014-2018 American Community Surveys. Note: 16 and older. Immigrants who came to the US as adults.
Black Caribbean Immigrants have larger families, higher household income and are less likely to live in poverty than African Americans.
Many Caribbean immigrants immigrated to the US under the family reunification program and they tend to rely on family as part of their integration process. In fact, Black Caribbean immigrants are much more likely to be married than African Americans: 51% are married compared to only 29% of African Americans. They are also more likely to live in families where there are at least 3 generations.
Figure 5. Poverty and Family Structure of Black Caribbean Immigrants and African Americans
Source: Author’s analysis of the 2014-2018 American Community Surveys. Note: Age 18 and older. Poverty thresholds are determined by federal guidelines using information on income, number of people living in the households and cost of living. Multigenerational households have at least 3 generations. Immigrants who came to the US as adults.
African Americans are more likely to be poor: 21% of adults live in poverty compared to 15% of Black Caribbean immigrants. With larger families where marriage is more prevalent, it is not surprising that the household income of Black Caribbean immigrants is $10,000 higher than for African American households. Having a spouse and other family members to rely on can alleviate unforeseen circumstances, like job or income loss.
Figure 6. Household Income of Black Caribbean Immigrants and African Americans
Source: Author’s analysis of the 2014-2018 American Community Surveys. Note: Includes income from all people living in the household. Immigrants who came to the US as adults.
Conclusion: Black Caribbean immigrant today, African American tomorrow: two communities intertwined.
The data analysis suggests that individual achievement isn’t enough for African Americans to improve their economic outcomes. While African Americans, particularly women, have higher educational attainment, they are afflicted by higher unemployment, poverty, and lower household income than Black Caribbean immigrants. Systemic discrimination affects African Americans even more than their brothers and sisters born abroad. This is worrisome because just like Kamala Harris who is both African American and a second-generation Black Caribbean immigrant, these communities are intertwined.
The experience of Black Caribbean immigrants reveals that strength can be found in the family. With a larger share of multigenerational households, more often headed by couples, Black Caribbean immigrants benefit from a cushion of support based on kin. This increases their access to financial resources, but also in-kind support. Stronger Black families can be a source of much needed resilience for a community that continues to experience economic disadvantage, lower life expectancy, higher maternal mortality rates, disproportionally high incarceration rates, police brutality and voter suppression.
Data, Methodology and Definitions: Dr. Lacarte conducted analysis using microdata from the American Community Survey 2014-2018 5-year sample by IPMUS (publicly available for download). At the exception of Table1 and Figure 1, all data refers to immigrants who came to the US as adults. The data analysis was fact-checked by Dr. Tanima Ahmed.
The definition of Black includes every individual who self-identified as Black - alone, or in combination with another race, in the 2014-2018 ACS. Only countries in the geographical Caribbean are analyzed, thus excluding Belize, Guyana and Suriname despite their political and cultural ties to the Caribbean. Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands are also excluded because of their US citizenship though we recognize the need for a separate discussion on their unique experience.
About the author: Dr. Valerie Lacarte received her PhD in economics from American University, Washington, DC. She has expertise in quantitative and qualitative research, international development, labor, immigration and the intersectionality of gender and race/ethnicity.
For questions on the data analysis or for references, contact info@sudecc.com
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