Latent Cumulative Disadvantage: US Immigrants' Reversed Economic Assimilation in Later Life.

This article examines the later-life economic integration of U.S. immigrant men, focusing on whether their earnings parity with native-born counterparts during working years persists into retirement. Using longitudinal data from the Health and Retirement Study (HRS), the study introduces the Latent Cumulative (Dis)advantage (LCD) framework, which posits that immigrants accumulate covert disadvantages in lifetime earnings, job benefits, and retirement planning that manifest as growing income disparities after age 50. Findings reveal that immigrant men experience a significant decline in income relative to native-born men in later life, driven primarily by lower Social Security benefits and pensions, with limited compensation from continued earnings or annuities. The study highlights the role of structural factors, including racial stratification and employment precarity, in shaping these trajectories and underscores the need for policy interventions addressing retirement security among aging immigrant populations.