Report Reveals Poverty Among State's Asian Americans
Jan 19, 2007
Jiao Chang Mai hasn't quite found the American dream yet. Mai, 24, moved to Massachusetts five years ago with her parents and two siblings from Canton, China. While her family fares better in Boston than they did as farmers in China earning only about $230 a month, they still struggle to make ends meet. Mai's parents each work at Asian grocery markets while Mai, who never completed high school, works 10 and-a-half hour shifts, five days a week, at a Chinese restaurant. She also is enrolled in a job-readiness course at a Chinatown agency, the Asian American Civic Association. She sets aside up to $100 a week for her siblings' education.
The entire family shares a subsidized apartment in South Boston, where they moved to after first trying to make it in North Quincy.
"The R-E-N-T was very expensive," Mai said, spelling out rent because she was unsure of the pronunciation.
Mai's story is not unique. Over 72,000 low-income Asian Americans reside in Massachusetts and half of them are at or below the federal poverty level, say the authors of "Far From the Commonwealth: A Report on Low-Income Asian Americans in Massachusetts," a new report by the Institute for Asian American Studies at the University of Massachusetts-Boston.
In fact, despite their so-called "model minority" stereotype, about a third of the state's Asian Americans is low-income earners like Mai, and in some cities such as Boston, Asian Americans' poverty rates are second only to Latinos', states the report.
"The public discussion on Asian Americans tends to focus on this image of the 'model minority' and Asian American success, which -- while that has aspects of truth -- it tends to overshadow the fact that there are significant economic problems among a large segment of our population," said Michael Liu, who authored the report with Thao Tran and Paul Watanabe, both also of the institute.
According to the latest estimates, more than 292,000 Asian Americans reside in the state. But the report, which is likely one of the most definitive to date on Massachusetts' poorest Asian Americans, is compiled from data from the 2000 Census when the state’s Asian American population was just under 240,000. The report used numbers from the 2000 Census’ Public Use Microdata Samples, which allow for greater analysis of census data than the data used in the 2005 estimates from the U.S. Census Department.
Cambodian Americans, many of whom are likely refugees, struggle the most: More than half in the state are low-income earners. Not far behind are Vietnamese; slightly less than half are low-income earners. A little less than a third of all Chinese Americans in Massachusetts are low-income earners, while about one in five Asian Indian Americans are. On the other hand, less than 18% of all whites in Massachusetts earn low incomes, and the low-income earner rate for the state’s entire population is slightly higher at nearly 22%.
While Mai hopes to overcome the obstacles, get a better education, and work her way up the ranks, not all Asian Americans appear to have that opportunity.
"Many tend to think that Asians only face poverty when they are new immigrants -- that people are poor when they first come here, and then they work themselves up," said Liu. "But if you look at our attempt to correlate income with their tenure in the U.S., that's not true."
The report reveals that many Asian Americans are poor in every age group, sometimes no matter how long they've lived in the U.S.
For example, middle-aged Cambodians, when compared with everyone else in the same age group, are more than three times as likely to be poor. Chinese Americans ages 65 to 74 are nearly twice as likely as all other same-aged senior citizens to be low-income earners.
Another finding in the study that Liu said wasn't expected was that Vietnamese Americans who are naturalized citizens appear to be more economically successful than U.S.-born Vietnamese Americans, though the numbers of poor Vietnamese are still overall high.
As Mai's story shows, the educational attainments of Asian Americans don't always fit into the model-minority stereotype, either.
"There are a relatively high percentage of Asian American adults, particularly low-income Asian American adults, with no schooling," states the report.
More than most other Asian Americans, Cambodian Americans have a relatively low educational attainment -- more than one third of Cambodians in the state has less than a ninth-grade education. As can be expected, Asian Americans who struggle to speak English are less likely to earn high incomes, the report shows.
Many Asian Americans who are out of work rely on public assistance programs, the report found.
"For the Asian population that isn't working, they rely much more heavily on public assistance programs than the population as a whole," said Liu.
The big difference, however, is when it comes to Social Security income -- far fewer non-working Asian Americans receive Social Security income, which is likely due in part to the length of time they've worked in the U.S.
Much of the report's findings would not likely come as a surprise to the few Boston-area social services agencies working with poor Asian Americans.
Hiep Chu, executive director of the Dorchester-based nonprofit VietAID, said that most of the agency's clients are low-income earning Vietnamese immigrants of Fields Corner, many of whom earn below even the federal poverty level.
"You can't really function and live comfortably at the poverty level," he said. He said that one of the problems that many immigrants face is they need to immediately start work at entry-level jobs when they arrive in the U.S. and forgo English education or job-training.
"When they end up working right away, in the short term they're able to take care of themselves. But in the long term, they're stuck in low-income, low-skill jobs and they can't turn themselves around. They aren't able to improve their English" or learn new job skills."
Chu said that VietAID has been trying to run job-skills training programs, such as a cleaning cooperative, to help give Vietnamese immigrants access to better-paying and skilled employment. But the efforts have so far proved difficult, save for a few programs that work to improve conditions in often hazardous occupations that tend to be popular among Vietnamese immigrants, such as floor sanding and nail salons.
The Asian American Civic Association, publisher of the Sampan, also has job-skills training programs. Jill Uchiyama teaches the job-readiness course in which Mai is enrolled. She agrees with Chu’s explanation that many Asian immigrants focus on getting work when they first arrive to the U.S. and can sometimes forgo education.
“It’s the survival mentality -- the poverty mentality,” she said.
Uchiyama added that it can be difficult to persuade new immigrants who find restaurant jobs or other low-skill jobs to see the value of education or volunteer work. The latter, she said, can often help new immigrants who are starting out to get needed letters of recommendations that will help them get more skilled work.
Liu said that he hopes that organizations such as VietAID and the Asian American Civic Association will find the report useful when trying to design or improve programs for low-income-earning Asian Americans.
He also said that he hopes that policy makers and state politicians, as well as social service organizations, will use the study to design programs that can improve the odds for low-income Asian Americans.
"The problem is that even though these facts exist, the public conversation or the policy discussions hardly ever acknowledge things like poor Asian Americans," he said.
Mai hopes to work and study her way up towards financial success.
She wants to continue to study English, get her G.E.D., and then attend Bunker Hill Community College, where she hopes to learn the skills needed to find an office job.
Through her life here can be a struggle, she said, "it's better than it was in China."
The entire family shares a subsidized apartment in South Boston, where they moved to after first trying to make it in North Quincy.
"The R-E-N-T was very expensive," Mai said, spelling out rent because she was unsure of the pronunciation.
Mai's story is not unique. Over 72,000 low-income Asian Americans reside in Massachusetts and half of them are at or below the federal poverty level, say the authors of "Far From the Commonwealth: A Report on Low-Income Asian Americans in Massachusetts," a new report by the Institute for Asian American Studies at the University of Massachusetts-Boston.
In fact, despite their so-called "model minority" stereotype, about a third of the state's Asian Americans is low-income earners like Mai, and in some cities such as Boston, Asian Americans' poverty rates are second only to Latinos', states the report.
"The public discussion on Asian Americans tends to focus on this image of the 'model minority' and Asian American success, which -- while that has aspects of truth -- it tends to overshadow the fact that there are significant economic problems among a large segment of our population," said Michael Liu, who authored the report with Thao Tran and Paul Watanabe, both also of the institute.
According to the latest estimates, more than 292,000 Asian Americans reside in the state. But the report, which is likely one of the most definitive to date on Massachusetts' poorest Asian Americans, is compiled from data from the 2000 Census when the state’s Asian American population was just under 240,000. The report used numbers from the 2000 Census’ Public Use Microdata Samples, which allow for greater analysis of census data than the data used in the 2005 estimates from the U.S. Census Department.
Cambodian Americans, many of whom are likely refugees, struggle the most: More than half in the state are low-income earners. Not far behind are Vietnamese; slightly less than half are low-income earners. A little less than a third of all Chinese Americans in Massachusetts are low-income earners, while about one in five Asian Indian Americans are. On the other hand, less than 18% of all whites in Massachusetts earn low incomes, and the low-income earner rate for the state’s entire population is slightly higher at nearly 22%.
While Mai hopes to overcome the obstacles, get a better education, and work her way up the ranks, not all Asian Americans appear to have that opportunity.
"Many tend to think that Asians only face poverty when they are new immigrants -- that people are poor when they first come here, and then they work themselves up," said Liu. "But if you look at our attempt to correlate income with their tenure in the U.S., that's not true."
The report reveals that many Asian Americans are poor in every age group, sometimes no matter how long they've lived in the U.S.
For example, middle-aged Cambodians, when compared with everyone else in the same age group, are more than three times as likely to be poor. Chinese Americans ages 65 to 74 are nearly twice as likely as all other same-aged senior citizens to be low-income earners.
Another finding in the study that Liu said wasn't expected was that Vietnamese Americans who are naturalized citizens appear to be more economically successful than U.S.-born Vietnamese Americans, though the numbers of poor Vietnamese are still overall high.
As Mai's story shows, the educational attainments of Asian Americans don't always fit into the model-minority stereotype, either.
"There are a relatively high percentage of Asian American adults, particularly low-income Asian American adults, with no schooling," states the report.
More than most other Asian Americans, Cambodian Americans have a relatively low educational attainment -- more than one third of Cambodians in the state has less than a ninth-grade education. As can be expected, Asian Americans who struggle to speak English are less likely to earn high incomes, the report shows.
Many Asian Americans who are out of work rely on public assistance programs, the report found.
"For the Asian population that isn't working, they rely much more heavily on public assistance programs than the population as a whole," said Liu.
The big difference, however, is when it comes to Social Security income -- far fewer non-working Asian Americans receive Social Security income, which is likely due in part to the length of time they've worked in the U.S.
Much of the report's findings would not likely come as a surprise to the few Boston-area social services agencies working with poor Asian Americans.
Hiep Chu, executive director of the Dorchester-based nonprofit VietAID, said that most of the agency's clients are low-income earning Vietnamese immigrants of Fields Corner, many of whom earn below even the federal poverty level.
"You can't really function and live comfortably at the poverty level," he said. He said that one of the problems that many immigrants face is they need to immediately start work at entry-level jobs when they arrive in the U.S. and forgo English education or job-training.
"When they end up working right away, in the short term they're able to take care of themselves. But in the long term, they're stuck in low-income, low-skill jobs and they can't turn themselves around. They aren't able to improve their English" or learn new job skills."
Chu said that VietAID has been trying to run job-skills training programs, such as a cleaning cooperative, to help give Vietnamese immigrants access to better-paying and skilled employment. But the efforts have so far proved difficult, save for a few programs that work to improve conditions in often hazardous occupations that tend to be popular among Vietnamese immigrants, such as floor sanding and nail salons.
The Asian American Civic Association, publisher of the Sampan, also has job-skills training programs. Jill Uchiyama teaches the job-readiness course in which Mai is enrolled. She agrees with Chu’s explanation that many Asian immigrants focus on getting work when they first arrive to the U.S. and can sometimes forgo education.
“It’s the survival mentality -- the poverty mentality,” she said.
Uchiyama added that it can be difficult to persuade new immigrants who find restaurant jobs or other low-skill jobs to see the value of education or volunteer work. The latter, she said, can often help new immigrants who are starting out to get needed letters of recommendations that will help them get more skilled work.
Liu said that he hopes that organizations such as VietAID and the Asian American Civic Association will find the report useful when trying to design or improve programs for low-income-earning Asian Americans.
He also said that he hopes that policy makers and state politicians, as well as social service organizations, will use the study to design programs that can improve the odds for low-income Asian Americans.
"The problem is that even though these facts exist, the public conversation or the policy discussions hardly ever acknowledge things like poor Asian Americans," he said.
Mai hopes to work and study her way up towards financial success.
She wants to continue to study English, get her G.E.D., and then attend Bunker Hill Community College, where she hopes to learn the skills needed to find an office job.
Through her life here can be a struggle, she said, "it's better than it was in China."
Article Reference: http://www.sampan.org/show_article.php?display=975
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