Asian Immigrant

Asian Americans

Asian Americans have been characterized as a "successful" minority. Their educational achievements and economic success compare favorably with, or exceed, the national averages. Yet while "Asian American" is a convenient label, it includes many groups from diverse national and cultural backgrounds, making broad generalizations misleading.

People of Asian heritage have been present in the United States in large numbers since the 19th century. This original group included people from China, Japan, Korea, and the Philippines. These original immigrants settled and established a support system for future immigrants from their individual homelands, laying the foundation for future success.

In the 1960s about 7 percent of all immigrants were from Asia, equivalent to about 20,000 people per year. By the mid-1980s, these figures increased to 44 percent and about 264,000 per year, with many of these new immigrants being refugees from Southeast Asia—Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos. Much of this increase was due to change in immigration law, established by the Immigration Act of 1965 (Jennifer, 23-45).

The Immigration Act was the first real reform in immigration policy since the National Origins Act of 1921. The Immigration Act abolished quotas that favored immigrants from northwest Europe by allotting 20,000 slots annually for each nation. Family reunification and emphasis on occupational skills became the primary criteria for incoming persons. Spouses, immediate relatives, and minor children of U.S. citizens were exempted from the numerical limitations placed on each nation. The system was gradually phased in between 1966 and 1968. In 1969 immigrant visas were distributed, for the first time, without any national preference.

All Asian-American groups experienced tremendous growth following the adoption of the Immigration Act. As of the 1990 census the five leading Asian-American populations came from China, the Philippines, Japan, India, and Korea. All of these groups, except the Filipino Americans and Japanese Americans, witnessed their populations more than double between 1980 and 1990. The Indian-American and Korean-American populations each grew by 125 percent during the 1980s and the Chinese-American population increased by 104 percent. The fastest-growing Asian-American group was the Vietnamese, who increased their numbers by nearly 135 percent between 1980 and 1990.

According to the Bureau of the Census, the Asian-American population grew from 1.5 million in 1970 to 8.8 million in 1994, accounting for about 3 percent of the total population. Growing at a rate of 4.5 percent a year, immigration accounts for 86 percent of the increase. In terms of geographic location, 60 percent of Asian Americans lived in the western United States. Sixty-six percent lived in the states of California, New York, Hawaii, Texas, and Illinois (Wendy, 121-132).

As of 1994 nine of 10 Asian-American men and eight of 10 Asian-American women had at least a high school diploma. Forty-six percent of men and 37 percent of women had a bachelor's degree, as compared with 28 percent of Caucasian men and 21 percent of Caucasian women.

The 1994 median income for college-educated Asian and Pacific Islander Americans age 25 and older was $41,220 for men and $31,780 for women as compared to $47,180 for ...