Do older Hispanic immigrants receive more from public assistance?

Research shows that foreign-born adults, including those of Hispanic origin, are less likely than the U.S.-born population to access public benefits. However, we do not understand well the extent to which immigrants are underutilizing public benefits, how this may differ across different types of public supports, and how the trends in public benefits receipt have changed in recent decades.

We use 1998-2020 data from the Health and Retirement Study and apply structural equation models (SEM) to account for the direct and indirect impact of nativity and Hispanic ethnicity on the receipt of Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) benefits, Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits, and Supplemental Security Income and welfare benefits.

We find that older Hispanic immigrants are substantially less likely than the U.S.-born population to receive SSDI benefits, while more likely to receive means-tested benefits, primarily driven by their higher likelihood of poverty. However, we also document a declining use of public benefits by older immigrants relative to nonimmigrants during the years of Obama and Trump administrations, with arguably a somewhat accelerated pace during the latter. The magnitude of this decline is much more pronounced for Hispanic than non-Hispanic immigrants.

Our findings suggest that older immigrants are likely not a disproportionate burden on the welfare system of our country and may even be underutilizing some aspects of it. They confirm the utility of using the SEM approach to account for the complex web of relationships linking basic demographic characteristics such as nativity with the outcomes of interest.