Subject: Austin Compared to 3 Texas Cities on New American Economy Indices

Date: August 21, 2020

From: Ruth Wasem, Professor of Policy Practice at the LBJ School of Public Affairs

As we weigh whether and how we might help the City of Austin move towards establishing an
office of immigrant affairs and become an official Welcoming City, I thought it would be helpful
to compare Austin to two cities who have Offices of Immigrant Affairs that we are already
working with: Dallas and San Antonio. It seemed useful to also add Houston to the analysis
since it was recognized by the Obama Administration in 2016 for its “innovative initiatives and
partnerships addressing language access, outreach services, cultural diversity, civic engagement
and community leadership participation in city affairs.”1
The New American Economy
(NAE) Cities Index2 provides New American Economy Scores
a baseline to compare the
5
largest one hundred U.S cities 4
4 3.43 3.4 3.6 3.8
based on their efforts toward 3 3.15 3.25
immigrant integration because 3 2.7 2.5
2 2
it relies on standardized data 2
available across the nation.
Austin has an overall score of 1
2.7 on a 5-point score, 0
positioning it in the middle of Overall Policy Socioeconomic
NAE’s immigrant integration
Austin Dallas San Antonio Houston
rankings. Of the three other
Texas cities – Dallas, Houston
and San Antonio – Austin has the lowest overall score and the lowest score on the Policy
Indicator. Austin ties with Dallas having the lowest Socioeconomic Indicator score of 2.

1
City of Houston, Department of Neighborhoods, Press Release, Sept. 15, 2016,
https://www.houstontx.gov/neighborhoods/20160915.html [last accessed Aug. 21, 2020].
2
New American Economy, “Cities Index for 2019,” https://www.newamericaneconomy.org/cities-
index/compare/ [last accessed Aug. 21, 2020].

1
Austin performed best on the Community Indicator, scoring a 5 out of 5 along with Dallas and
Houston. The Community
NAE Policy Indices indicator measures policies
5 5 5 5 5 5 that support the organization,
5
4.5 4 4
representation, and
4 integration within a
3.5 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 community.
3
2.5
On all other of the Policy
2
1.5 Indicators – Government
1 Leadership, Economic
0.5 Empowerment Inclusivity
0
Government Econoomic Inclusivity Community Legal Support and Legal Support– Austin
Leadership Empowerment scored a 3, measuring up
comparably tot the other 3
Austin Dallas San Antonio Houston
Texas cities.

In terms of the specific measures that NAE includes with the Socioeconomic Indicator, Austin
has its highest score on Economic Prosperity, with a 3 value that ties with Dallas and San
Antonio. It earned a 2 value in both Job Opportunities and Livability.
Austin received the
NAE Socioeconomic Indices
lowest score for
participation in 2019, 5
4 4
suggested that many of 4
Austin’s foreign-born 3 3 3 3 3 3
residents are not actively 3
engaged in civic life. 2 2 2 2 2
2
However, our research for 1 1 1
Dallas found that the three 1
variables NAE selected
0
for Civic Participation do Job Opportunities Economic Prosperity Livability Civic Participation
not fully capture the
Austin Dallas San Antonio Houston
concept of civic
participation.3

3
Thomas Adkins, Johnathan Cereceres, Abbey Judd, and Claudia Sandoval “National Context: Setting
the Stage and Measuring Up” Welcoming Communities: Immigrant Incorporation in Dallas, Texas,
(2020) https://repositories.lib.utexas.edu/handle/2152/82248 [last accessed aug. 21, 2020].

2
 Overview of the NAE Indices and Indicators

Policy Score
The Policy section of the NAE Cities Index is constructed through existing research collected in
Abigail Fisher Williamson’s 2016 Municipal Responses to Immigrants Survey (MRIS), as well
as data collected by the Vera Institute of Justice, National Center for Children in Poverty, Urban
Institute, and National Immigration Law Center. Scores range between 0 to 1, based on the local
government’s policy or absence of a policy. Policies are then evaluated in five categories
including: Government Leadership, Economic Empowerment, Inclusivity, Community, and
Legal Support. Borrowing the scoring system from the California Immigration Integration
Scorecard, the NAE determines each categories’ score by calculating the average of existing
values using equal weights. All values are normalized using a Z-score in each subcategory, with
5 indicating the highest level of policy support and 1 indicating the lowest level. This section
discusses the specific metrics used to determine the indicator score and possible limitations of
each indicator.

Government Leadership

Six metrics are used to evaluate a city’s Government Leadership score, which measures
immigrant integration through representation and prioritization of immigrant affairs within the
local government.

1. Establish and maintain a local office for immigrant affairs

2. Instate a liaison with immigrant communities
3. Hire immigrants as municipal employees
4. Recruit members of the immigrant community to municipal boards or commissions
5. Issue proclamations or resolutions in support of immigrants
6. Develop or participate in programs intended to attract immigrants

Economic Empowerment

Four key metrics determine each cities’ Economic Empowerment score, assessing the policy
support for foreign-born residents’ economic opportunities, support and protection.

1. Professional Licensing
2. Vocational training targeting immigrants
3. Entrepreneurial support programs targeting immigrants
4. Wage Protection (i.e. minimum wage laws)

3
Inclusivity

Inclusivity is measured through ten metrics, each looking at opportunities that exist for foreign-
born residents to be included in the cultural, civic, educational and professional aspects of living
in a community.

1. Materials being translated in municipal centers

2. Language support when municipal staff members are approached by non-English
speaking residents
3. Design hiring practices to attract bilingual candidates
4. Housing or zoning ordinances in response to immigration
5. Impose fine on landlords who rent to undocumented immigrants
6. Driver’s license for undocumented immigrants
7. Access to community college for undocumented immigrants
8. Require municipal employees to check immigration status before providing some
services
9. Social services for immigrants within five years of arrival
10. Issue a municipal identification card to residents, regardless of immigration status

Community

There are six metrics within the community subcategory:

1. Partner with local organizations to provide services and information to immigrants

2. Establish council to advise officials on immigration
3. Provide funding for immigration organizations or activities
4. Provide in-kind support for immigration organizations or activities
5. Host events to celebrate immigrant contributions or facilitate interaction between
immigrant and non-immigrant residents.
6. Run or provide support for programs that encourage or guide eligible immigrants through
the naturalization process

Legal Support

There are five metrics within the legal support subcategory:

1. Allow local police to determine law enforcement priorities and separate local police
duties from federal immigration enforcement
2. Focus local police resources on local law enforcement priorities
3. Share information about undocumented immigrants with federal immigration agencies
4. Legal aid for immigrants facing deportation
5. Accept consular ID or other foreign IDs as form of identification

4
Socioeconomic Score
The NAE Cities Index’s Socioeconomic Score relies on the five-year sample from the American
Community Survey (ACS) for each respective year of the survey. While the ACS data is not
segmented by foreign-born and native-born populations, the NAE applied the ratio of immigrants
to that of U.S. born counterparts in comparative indicators such as employment rate. For
Indicators such as Naturalization Rate the absolute value is used.

Socioeconomic metrics include four indicators: Job Opportunities, Economic Prosperity,

Livability, and Civic Participation. Within the Index, certain metrics of the NAE indicators break
down by skill level, meaning that they are subdivided by high-skill and low-skill labor, which is
determined by whether an individual holds a bachelor’s degree or higher. Like the Policy Scores,
the Socioeconomic Scores are normalized through Z-scores from 1 to 5.

Job Opportunities

The Job Opportunities indicator includes five metrics to assess the score including:

1. Labor force participation rate

2. Employment rate
3. Share of people in high prestige occupations
4. Share of people that are part-time workers
5. Share of people who are self-employed

Economic Prosperity

The Economic Prosperity indicator, as defined by the NAE, is based on:

1. Median Income
2. Median Business Income
3. Poverty Rate
4. Share of Social Security recipients
5. Share of welfare recipients
6. Share as recipients of Social Security, welfare, or Medicaid
7. Share as Food Stamp recipients

Livability

Factors affecting the NAE’s Livability indicator include:

1. Homeownership rate

5
 2. Rent burden
3. Share of overcrowded dwellings
4. Share of people with health insurance
5. Share of people with a high school diploma
6. Share of people with bachelor’s degrees
7. Share of people with advanced degrees

Civic Participation

Civic Participation is scored based on three metrics:

1. Naturalization Rate
2. Share as public- or social-sector workers
3. Share of military members or as veterans.

Naturalization Rate is defined by the share of naturalized citizens among immigrants who are
potentially eligible for naturalization, and share as public- or social-sector workers is defined by
people employed in public administration or social organizations, such as NGOs, religious
organizations, or unions.