GEOGRAPHY AND THE ETIOLOGY OF POVERTY AMONG LATINO CHILDREN

Objective. The primary objective of this article is to assess the exte nt to which the residence patterns of Latino subgroups account for dif ferences in poverty among children of Mexican, Puerto Rican, Cuban, Ce ntral or South American, and other Latino origins. A guiding hypothesi s is that labor market conditions affect child poverty indirectly thro ugh parental employment patterns and family structure. Methods. These issues are addressed with a logistic regression analysis based on a ch ild file created from the Public Use Microdata Sample (PUMS) of the 19 90 Census and merged with metropolitan-level information on labor mark et conditions. Results, Our findings demonstrate substantial spatial a nd ethnic-group variation in the economic status of Latino children. L atino children living in metropolitan areas with high unemployment; lo w wages, and substantial residential segregation have the highest risk of poverty. Neither labor market characteristics nor parental employm ent nor family structure, however, can fully account for the comparati vely low poverty rate of Cuban children and the high poverty rates of Puerto Ricans and Mexican Americans, Conclusions. Our results raise qu estions about the potential effectiveness of economic-development init iatives aimed at poor places and welfare reform targeted at poor peopl e as strategies to reduce intergroup inequality.