Clocking in: Employment outcomes for unaccompanied refugee minors leaving foster care in the United States

Abstract

Millions of people around the world experience forced displacement from their homes because of war, natural disaster, and political turmoil. A particularly vulnerable sub-group of this population includes children and youth who migrate without parents or guardians, also known as unaccompanied minors. In recent years, dramatic increases in the number of minors from the Central American countries of El Salvador, Honduras, and Guatemala have arrived to the US seeking asylum from violence and refuge from destitution. Yet, relatively little is known about outcomes for this population after their arrival. The current study uses a secondary analysis of administrative data from Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service to explore factors related to employment outcomes for minors from El Salvador, Honduras, and Guatemala, as compared to minors from 23 other countries who exited the Office of Refugee Resettlement’s Unaccompanied Refugee Minors Program in 2015 (N = 187). Results indicate that each additional month in care increased the odds of being employed part-time or full-time at time of discharge by 3.2%. The odds of being employed part-time or full-time are 92.0% lower for URM from El Salvador, compared to URM from other countries. Results of the study yield two major implications: first, the results support immigration policy development that increases lengths of program duration for URM. Second, results identify URM from El Salvador as particularly vulnerable to accessing employment opportunities.