Finding a Way to Get By: Latino Household Economic Strategies in a Time of Economic and Political Strain

Few studies have addressed how Latino families resident in the United States for many years have been impacted by the economic downturn of 2007–2009, the household economic strategies these families adopted to cope with financial distress, or if such efforts are affected by localized responses to immigration policy. Drawing on survey and matched qualitative interview data from a random sample of Latino households in Phoenix, Arizona, we examine the types and number of household economic strategies families deploy; whether social network composition and exchanges vary according to the level of financial strain experienced and the types of strategies used to ameliorate that strain; and how the local policy context affects the strategies. We find that households do not rely on just one strategy but deploy multiple strategies engaged in by different family members concurrently. There is little variation in household social network composition or resource exchange by strategy, but some variation in resource exchange by degree of financial strain. Attempts to increase the household labor supply are particularly thwarted by the context of anti-immigrant policy and enforcement.