Poverty within the AsianAmerican Population

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Poverty within the Asian-American Population

• By Rosalyn Kawahira, Xochitl De Jesus, Josh
  Fischer, and Paul Renno

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Background

• In 1965, amendments to the Immigration and
  Nationality Act removed discriminatory barriers
  against immigration from Asia
• U.S. Asian population
• U.S. born Asian Americans
• Foreign-born Asian immigrants
• Naturalized U.S. citizens or not
• Majority live in California(35), Hawaii(15.9)
  and New York(8.9)

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Background(cont.)

• Asians are the fastest growing racial minority in
  the United States
• During the 1980s, the Asian population grew by
  80, Hispanic by 40, and black by 14
• In 1970, Asians composed .7 of the total
  population. In 1990, Asians composed 3 of the
  total population
• It is estimated that the Asian population will
  total 4 of the U.S. population by 2000(the
  census will allow us to see if a correct estimate

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The Asian Stereotype

• The model minority
• High-achievers
• High income
• Strong families and communities
• High education
• Healthy

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The Truth

• Not all Asians live the life of the model
  minority
• According to 1980 census, 10.7 of Asians were
  living in poverty as compared to 8 of whites(In
  1993 14 compared to 8)
• In 1995 poverty rate for Asians was still roughly
  6-7 higher than that of whites yet median
  incomes for Asians was 40,614 as compared to
  34,076 for whites

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The Truth(cont.)

• Statistics conflict
• Would not it make sense for the race with lower
  poverty rates to have higher median incomes?
• Conflicting statistics due to substantial social
  inequality between members of this
  population(especially among immigrants) with a
  lot of Asians in the very bottom economic class

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Possible Explanations for Poverty Breaking
Asians into Groups

• There are many possible subsets for the Asian
  population
• By ethnicity(Chinese, Japanese, Korean, etc.)
• Reasons for Entrance
• Time in the U.S.
• Education
• Residential segregation
• Family Size

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Reasons for Asian immigration

• Asians have entered the United States for many
  different reasons
• Some obtained visas based upon education and
  professional qualifications
• More came over under the family reunification
  provisions of the 1965 amendments
• Also, large numbers of refugees from Indochina
  (Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos) entered the U.S.
  when our involvement in Indochina ended

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Reasons for Asian Immigration(cont.)

• A great inequality exists here
• On one hand there are the highly educated Asian
  Indian immigrants and Filipino professionals
  while on the other hand there are the mostly
  poorly educated and unskilled refugees-turned-immi
  grants from Indochina
• These entrance inequalities explain much of the
  social dichotomy in the U.S. Asian population.

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Time in the U.S.

• Data from sample used in Lee 1994
• Time since Immigration
• Less than 5 years 38.4 in poverty
• 5-10 years 27.7 in poverty
• 10-20 years 18.9 in poverty
• 20-30 years 5 in poverty
• Strong negative correlation between poverty and
  time spent in the United States

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Education

• In 1990, among Asian groups, the percentage with
  at least a high school diploma ranged from 31
  for Hmongs to 88 for Japanese
• For Pacific Islanders(64 of Tongans compared to
  80 for Hawaiians)
• Asians with at least a bachelors degree ranged
  from 6 for Cambodians, Laotians, and Hmongs to
  58 for Asian Indians

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Education (cont.)

• For Pacific Islanders, percentage with bachelors
  ranged from 6 for Tongans to 12 for Hawaiians
• Education highly valued by Asians
• High school seniors who aspire to earn a college
  degree
• 74 of all Americans
• 95 of Asian/South Asian students
• 65 of Southeast Asian students

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Residential Segregation

• Only 52 of Asians owned homes compared to 70 of
  whites(1994)
• Asians were more likely then whites to reside in
  metropolitan areas(95 to 75)
• More likely to live in central city(42 to 23)
• At all levels of education and income there is
  some degree of residential segregation, but
  Asian-White segregation decreases as social class
  rises.

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Residential Segregation(cont.)

• 1980, 40 of Asians would have to relocate to
  achieve no segregation compared to 49 of
  Hispanics and 69 of blacks
• For Asians, segregation is highest among Asians
  with less than 9 years of schooling
• Within Asian-White segregation, Vietnamese are
  most segregated while Chinese, Japanese, and
  Filipino are least segregated

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Residential Segregation(cont.)

• Vietnamese are new immigrants while only 28 of
  Japanese foreign born
• Came mainly to the U.S. as war refugees
• Needed support so lived in enclaves
• Needed more support than other Asian ethnicities
  who came to US for other reasons
• Forced allocation of Japanese during WW2
  permanently dismantled many long-time established
  Japanese communities

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Family Size

• Average family size for Asian family was 3.8, 3.3
  for white(in 1994 was 3.8 to 3.1)
• Vietnamese and Samoan had family sizes of 5.2
  while Chinese, Japanese, and Asian Indian had
  3.7, 3.6, and 3.5 respective sizes
• Among Asians, percentage of families living with
  both parents varied from 91 for Asian Indian
  families to 73 for Vietnamese and Hawaiians

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Other possible explanations for high poverty
rates?

• Inequities in the Workplace
• Lack of government programs centered on
  Asian-Americans

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Inequities in the Workplace

• Whites earn more than Asians controlling for
  education and sex(1993)
• Median yearly wage for white male high school
  graduates was 28,370 compared to 23,490 for
  Asians, for college graduates white males earn
  47,180 compared to 41,220 for Asians
• Median wage for white, HS women was 19,850
  compared to 17,330 for Asians, for college
  graduates whites 32,920 as compared to 31,780
  for Asian women

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Inequities(cont.)

• These are significant differences
• Discrimination is not clearly the reason for
  these differences, reasons such as language
  barriers may be the real reason for these
  disparities(need gov. programs focused on Asians
  to erase these barriers)
• Regardless, these disparities do decrease income
  levels(increase poverty levels) for the Asian
  population

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Government Programs

• Even in 1989, the U.S. Asian population continued
  to be absent from most official and scholarly
  publications on poverty
• Census reports providing detailed poverty
  information on white, black, and Hispanic
  populations have, for the most part, ignored
  Asians(even researchers have ignored them)
• Therefore, very few public policies have been
  aimed specifically on Asian poverty

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Government Programs

• Health care(not Asian friendly)
• Hospital employees do not speak language of
  majority population in certain areas
• Pamphlets in hospitals are not in immigrants
  language
• Psychological help for war trauma victims not
  provided

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Programs (contd)

• Bilingual education
• Many Asian-American children do not have
  opportunity to learn native language in school or
  have a program to aid them in learning
  English(bilingual program)
• Even some cases where students who do not speak
  English are put into the wrong special education
  class
• Ex Oakland (1997) Chinese elementary student put
  in a Vietnamese-English bilingual class

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Why is all of this information important?

• No longer should the U.S. be able to characterize
  all Asians as fitting the model minority
  stereotype
• New evidence shows a growing concentration and
  chronicity of poverty (vicious cycles centered on
  specific groups)
• Poverty among subsets of the Asian population
  needs to be publicly addressed (including all
  immigrants regardless of race)

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References

• New York Times, November 9, 1997
• Langberg, Mark. Residential Segregation of Asian
  Americans in 1980. October 1985
• Lee, Sharon. Social Science Quarterly, Vol. 75,
  Number 3, Sept. 1994.
• 1990 Census of Population, Asians and Pacific
  Islanders in the U.S.
• 1980 Census of Population, We, the Asian and
  Pacific Islander Americans