CIAO DATE: 06/02

The Dominican Diaspora Revisited: Dominicans and Dominican-Americans in a New Century

This paper presents new data on the Dominican migration process and Dominicans in the United States. Immigration from the Dominican Republic to the United States increased dramatically from the 1960s through the mid-1990s. Within the Western Hemisphere, the number of Dominican immigrants to the United States is second only to those from Mexico. Migration from the Dominican Republic peaked in the 1990s, even though the country was experiencing significant progress toward democracy and one of the fastest rates of economic growth in the world. However, Dominican economic growth was accompanied by wide inequality in income distribution. Dominicans in the United States continue to suffer from low levels of education, income, and occupational status. The good news is that second-generation Dominicans have achieved considerably higher levels of education and secured better jobs than their foreign-born elders.

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