Factors Associated with Poverty among Refugees in the United States

ABSTRACT

In this paper, factors associated with poverty among refugees were explored using a nationally representative sample in the United States. Relying on the social exclusion theory,) a refugee integration framework was selected as a conceptual framework of the study. Poverty was calculated based on households’ income (income poverty) and deprivation in three domains of education, health, and housing (multidimensional poverty). Multivariate models of the study identified limited English language proficiency as the strongest predictor of both income and multidimensional poverty among refugees. The findings call for more attention to English language training among refugees in the United States.

KEYWORDS:

• Poverty
• refugees
• multidimensional poverty
• English language proficiency

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).