Asian Americans: Growth, Change, and Diversity

With heavy immigration fueled by U.S. immigration law changes in 1965 and the influx of over 700,000 Indochinese refugees since the Vietnam War ended in 1975, the number of Asian Americans grew from 1.4 million in 1970 to 3.5 million, 1.5 percent of the U.S. population, by the April 1980 census and an estimated 5.1 million, 2.1 percent of the U.S. total, as of September 30, 1985. Barring major changes in U.S. immigration policy, they could number almost 10 million in 2000. The major Asian American groups are Chinese, Filipinos, Japanese, Vietnamese, Koreans, and Asian Indians. In 1980, 49 percent of Asian Americans lived in California or Hawaii and 9 percent in New York; and 92 percent lived in metropolitan areas, compared to 75 percent of the general population. Except for the latest-arrived Vietnamese, the fertility rate of the six major groups is lower than the average white rate, labor force participation is generally higher and unemployment lower. In 1980, 35 percent of adults were college graduates, compared to 17 percent of white adults, and among the foreign-born, all but Koreans and Vietnamese exceeded the white population in achieving the highest status occupational category. Per-worker median incomes in 1979 were higher than the white median only for Japanese, Chinese, and Asian Indians, but family median incomes were as high or higher than the white median for all but Vietnamese, because Asian American households, especially among recent immigrants, contain more workers than white households. Asian Americans are not homogeneous and some groups still lag behind, but with their strong family support and dedication to education and work, Asian Americans are likely to assimilate like other immigrant groups before them. (Author)