Exploring the Socioeconomic Status of Adult Children of New Immigrants in Taiwan

Abstract

Since the 1990s, Taiwan has witnessed a continuous influx of marriage migrants from Southeast Asian and mainland China and hence a growing number of their children. Given that a significant number of these children have already come of age recently, it might be important to understand how they fare socioeconomically. Accordingly, this study looks into the socioeconomic status of children of new immigrants in early adulthood in Taiwan. Drawing on the Taiwan Social Change Survey data from 2002 to 2020, multiple linear regression results unveil that children of new immigrants are disadvantaged compared to individuals with a non-immigrant background in terms of educational attainment, occupational status, and monthly income. After controlling for parental educational attainment, the only adequate variable available in the data that can be utilized to examine to what extent family socioeconomic status contributes to the disadvantaged socioeconomic situation of children of new immigrants, it appears that parental educational attainment may play a role in the social mobility process of children of new immigrants. Another noteworthy finding is that despite their advantage in educational attainment and occupational status, children of mainland Chinese immigrants earn less per month than children of Southeast Asian immigrants on average, which may require future research to explore plausible factors contributing to this phenomenon