The New Rural Poverty

Immigration is changing the face of rural America, from Florida to Washington and from Maine to California. Migrants arrive, many from Mexico, to fill jobs on farms and in farm-related industries, usually at earnings below the poverty. Leaders of rural industries are adamant that a steady influx of foreign workers is necessary for economic survival. But the integration of these newcomers is uneven: many immigrants achieve some measure of the American dream, but others find persistent poverty, overcrowded housing, and crime. The New Rural Poverty examines the effect of rural immigration on inland agricultural areas in California, farm areas in coastal California, and meat and poultry processing centers in Delaware and Iowa. The authors examine the interdependencies between immigrants and agriculture in the United States, explore the policy challenges and options, and assess how current proposals for immigration reform will affect rural America.

Philip Martin is a labor economist in the Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics at the University of California, Davis. After graduating from the University of Wisconsin–Madison, he worked at the Brookings Institution and the U.S. Department of Labor, focusing on labor and immigration issues. He has worked for the World Bank, International Monetary Fund, and United Nations in many countries around the world, and is the author of numerous articles and books on labor and immigration issues. Martin's research focuses on farm labor and rural poverty, labor migration and economic development, and immigration policy and guest worker issues; he has testified before Congress and state and local agencies numerous times on these issues. He is the editor of Migration News and Rural Migration News, and received UCD's Distinguished Public Service award in 1994.

Michael Fix is vice president and director of studies at the Migration Policy Institute, an independent think tank on national and international migration issues located in Washington, D.C. Before joining MPI in January 2005, Mr. Fix was director of Immigration Studies at the Urban Institute. Mr. Fix's research has focused on immigration and immigrant integration policy, race and the measurement of discrimination, federalism, and regulatory reform. Mr. Fix's recent immigration and immigrant policy research has focused on social rights and citizenship, immigrant education, and the impact of immigrants on the U.S. labor force. His recent publications include "A Profile of the Low-Wage Immigrant Labor Force"; Overlooked and Underserved: Immigrant Students in U.S. Secondary Schools; and "All Under One Roof: Mixed-Status Families in an Age of Reform." He is currently working on a study of the implementation of the No Child Left Behind Act and English language learners.

J. Edward Taylor is a professor of agricultural and resource economics and director of the Center on Rural Economies of the Americas and Pacific Rim at the University of California, Davis. His recent research integrates household and general-equilibrium modeling to address questions related to rural market imperfections; population, migration, and labor supply; poverty and income inequality; technology adoption; and the environment. He also researches U.S. farm labor and rural poverty.