Haitians Assimilate Well in the United States
You’ll be surprised at how we Haitians excel in all walks of life
EMPLOYMENT
Those of Haitian descent also perform well in the job market – more than 80 percent of persons born in the United States with Haitian ancestry report being employed. Again, this group outperforms the rest: beating other U.S. born persons by 21 percentage points, non‐Haitian immigrants by 16 percentage points, and their own parents and grandparents by 13 percentage points. This is consistent with the National Academy of Science’s 2016 report’s finding that the 2nd generation is the most fiscally positive of any generation.
EDUCATION
One motivation for immigration is ensuring that one’s children are able to have better opportunities than in the country of origin. Haitian immigrants are less educated than those born in the United States and other immigrant groups. Notably, they are three times more likely to have not completed high school. Nonetheless, their descendants actually outperform the U.S. population as a whole. Not only do nearly all adults with Haitian ancestry graduate high school—more than half hold a college degree, compared to 42 percent of those born in the United States not of Haitian descent.
MILITARY PARTICIPATION
Further measures of assimilation rates may be difficult to quantify using the American Community Survey. However, descendants of Haitians are about twice as likely to be active‐duty members of the armed forces. If we are to take military service as a signal for patriotism, this reflects other measures of assimilation into American society more broadly and strong support for American cultural values.
