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How Income Inequality Became A Big Issue Among Asian Americans - YouTube
Channel: CNBC
[1793]
From a quick glance, Asian
Americans look pretty well-off.
[1796]
They lead in economic measures
such as household income,
[1799]
consumer spending, and education
levels. But let's take a deeper
[1802]
look at the numbers. Take
household income, for example.
[1805]
The median for Asian households
was $85,800 in 2019. But if you
[1810]
break it out, you'll see at the
low end Burmese Americans with
[1813]
household incomes of 44,400,
less than the median of all U.S.
[1817]
households. And at the high end
sits Indian Americans with
[1821]
$119,000. When we add in other
Asian ethnic groups, you'll see
[1825]
that the original number of
85,800 might not be as
[1829]
representative as it seems.
Asian Americans are the most
[1832]
economically divided racial
group in America. While they are
[1835]
more likely to hold high-income
white collar jobs. Asian
[1838]
American workers also hold a
significant number of low-income
[1841]
service jobs.
[1843]
So most national data sets look
at the community in aggregate.
[1847]
And so when you combine it, it
looks like Asian Americans and
[1850]
Pacific Islanders are doing well
and often disguises, you know
[1855]
the realities of what those at
the lower end of the economic
[1858]
spectrum are experiencing.
[1860]
And this has set up problems for
the fastest growing racial group
[1863]
in the US, which includes
subgroups for more than 20
[1866]
countries. When we categorize
all of these cultures as Asian
[1869]
American, it leads to
generalizations.
[1872]
In reality, it's a lot more
complicated.
[1875]
Here's a look at the growing
income inequality in the Asian
[1878]
American Pacific Islander
community and why it's hard to
[1881]
tackle. The term Asian American
Pacific Islanders includes more
[1887]
than 40 ethnicities and
subgroups. The six largest
[1890]
groups in the U.S. are Chinese,
Indian, Filipino, Japanese,
[1894]
Korean, and Vietnamese.
[1897]
Today, Asian Americans are the
fastest growing racial or ethnic
[1900]
group in the U.S. It's also the
only major group whose
[1903]
population is rising because of
immigration. From 1965 to 2015,
[1909]
the Asian population in the U.S.
grew from 1.3 million to 18
[1914]
million and 98% of that came
from immigration.
[1917]
The 1965 immigration reform have
a profound impact on Asian
[1923]
immigration. The policy has two
goals. One is to allow for
[1929]
families unification so that
it's a humanitarian goal, and
[1934]
the other is an economic goal of
bringing in needed labor.
[1939]
The Immigration
[1940]
Nationality Act of 1965 vastly
increased the numbers of Asian
[1943]
immigrants in the U.S. It
prioritized highly-skilled and
[1946]
educated immigrants in careers
like medicine, science and tech.
[1950]
This new wave of immigration
helped confirm the stereotype of
[1953]
Asian Americans as the model
minority. They were seen as the
[1956]
successful law-abiding minority
who through hard work were able
[1959]
to achieve financial success.
The concept has been used as a
[1962]
political wedge to minimize the
institutional disadvantages
[1965]
other marginalized groups face.
Scholars argue the model
[1968]
minority myth hides the
inequities in the Asian
[1970]
subgroups. One example is
Southeast Asian refugees who
[1974]
came to the US during the 1970s
to 1990s. During that period,
[1977]
the number of Asians working in
low-skilled occupations grew
[1980]
while those in high-skill
occupations
[1982]
fell. When you come here as a
refugee like my parents did,
[1986]
you're coming from, you're
coming from war, you're coming
[1989]
from families that have been
torn apart. You're kind of, you
[1992]
know, just dumped in the ghettos
where the government can put you
[1997]
and you have a different
mentality. It's more of like
[1999]
that survival mentality.
[2001]
For Asian Americans and Pacific
Islanders, that wealth gap is
[2006]
largely due to immigrant
selective selectivity. That is
[2011]
different groups are selected
from their socioeconomic
[2016]
background and a context of
immigration. So that would have
[2021]
consequences on their
socioeconomic well being in a
[2025]
whole society and also their
wealth.
[2029]
New immigrants who don't come
with a highly-skilled work visa
[2032]
often have limited job options
because of language barriers,
[2035]
lack of work experience and
education.
[2037]
If you have this skill, you can
get incorporated into the larger
[2041]
labor market and move up from
there. But if you don't, then
[2045]
you either have to experience
this downward mobility by taking
[2051]
low-wage jobs and gradually move
yourself up. Or you can go
[2057]
through entrepreneurship.
[2059]
Opening up small businesses is
more common among Asian
[2063]
Americans and Pacific Islanders
than other communities. People
[2067]
don't have other opportunities
and so they they shift to
[2071]
building businesses as a means
of generating income and wealth
[2074]
for their families. My dad came
here from Pakistan and lived in
[2079]
New York City before he married
my mom. While he was in New York
[2083]
City, his first job was at Duane
Reade unboxing, and being a load
[2089]
guy and he worked at ton of odd
jobs like that. And he really
[2095]
did whatever you could and as
many jobs as he could, in order
[2099]
to build his wealth, and in
order to just have a footing in
[2102]
America,
[2103]
My family told me that I am the
inventor. So I can see when I
[2108]
started business, I don't have
any family member or any friend
[2113]
in this kind of business. It was
just keep looking at and I have
[2116]
a confidence myself that I can
learn. But after me, a lot of
[2120]
other family people and the
friends they got in this kind of
[2123]
business.
[2124]
Recent studies have found that
the AAPI population was more
[2127]
likely than any other racial
group to ask friends, family, or
[2131]
rely on themselves for financing
or business advice instead of
[2134]
going to institutions.
[2135]
My parents were from Vietnam,
and they immigrated over to
[2139]
America in the 1980s. They were
boat people, they were on a boat
[2144]
and traveled to Thailand and
then had a sponsor in
[2149]
California. So they landed in
Oxnard, California, so they
[2153]
didn't have any skills or any
job opportunities. So they
[2157]
started a little 97 cent general
merchandise store in Port
[2163]
Hueneme, California. They didn't
have the money to hire people so
[2167]
they used their children to work
for low pay or even no pay. But
[2173]
by doing that they were able to
provide for our family and put
[2177]
all their four children through
college.
[2182]
For some groups like Taiwanese
Americans, Indian Americans,
[2186]
Chinese Americans, outcomes like
income and college attainment
[2190]
might look good. But because
some of those groups are larger,
[2196]
Indian Americans and Chinese
Americans are the largest Asian
[2198]
American groups, their positive
outcomes on many of these
[2202]
measures end up masking all of
the struggles that many other
[2208]
groups face.
[2209]
Burmese Americans represent the
poor subgroup of Asian American
[2212]
Pacific Islanders, Their median
household income $44,400 is
[2216]
about half of the median income
of Asians in the United States.
[2220]
Only 16% of the subgroup have a
bachelor's degree and 25% live
[2224]
in poverty. Yin Ou's family
moved from Myanmar to New York
[2228]
City in 2009. To support the
family, her mom did a variety of
[2232]
minimum wage jobs that didn't
require English proficiency like
[2236]
jewelry packaging and
babysitting.
[2237]
We always qualified for food
stamps and Medicaid.
[2240]
Her mom has been unable to work
during the pandemic due to a
[2243]
disability while Yin has become
the breadwinner for her family.
[2246]
She has been working since she
was 16 years old.
[2248]
Like off the books worker, like
whoever in the community needed
[2253]
like an extra hand. I've always
been trying to work because
[2257]
there was never enough money to
have disposable income unless I
[2261]
go out and make it myself.
[2263]
Today she's working three jobs
while attending Queens College
[2265]
with federal student aid.
[2267]
I do often feel a disconnect
from my native friends and
[2273]
native by native mean birth like
by birth American, they don't
[2276]
really feel the burden of I
gotta make it because we
[2281]
sacrifice everything for my mom
to get me here. My life is not
[2285]
mine to live because it's my
mom's hopes and dreams are
[2290]
riding on it.
[2291]
Yin's goal is to buy her mom a
house one day, like 54% of
[2295]
Burmese Americans. Her family
has lived in rental properties
[2298]
since they've arrived in
America,
[2300]
You're looking at household
income, chances are there's many
[2304]
income earners within that
household. And so what we see is
[2308]
higher rates of overcrowding.
You know, we have
[2311]
multi-generational families
sharing small spaces again,
[2314]
because our lower income
families are living in the
[2318]
highest cost housing markets.
Not only do we need more
[2322]
affordable housing, but we need
housing that accommodates a
[2325]
family. These are the same
families that make our cities
[2327]
run.
[2328]
Data for Asian American Pacific
Islanders has become less
[2331]
aggregated in the past 20 years.
2000 was the first year the
[2335]
Census had separate categories
for Asian Americans and Native
[2338]
Hawaiian/Other Pacific
Islanders. Advocates have called
[2341]
for better aggregated data sets
and more accessibility and
[2344]
transparency in the methodology.
But some say it's not enough to
[2347]
close the gap.
[2348]
In addition to things like
disaggregating data, making sure
[2353]
language access is in place, we
as a community need to continue
[2357]
to build. It's amazing to see
the number of Asian Americans
[2361]
and Pacific Islanders running
for office now, you know, many
[2365]
of our organizations are much
stronger and able to really move
[2371]
the needle in what's happening
in their communities. So it's
[2374]
really that longer term building
that needs to continue to happen
[2377]
if we want to see things change
for our community.
[2380]
During the pandemic, it was
found that Asian American
[2383]
Pacific Islanders experienced
some of the worst economic
[2386]
effects. As more data comes out
post-pandemic it could be an
[2390]
even darker reality.
[2391]
You're gonna see phenomenon
where those who are more
[2394]
fortunate, probably did better.
We did a study ordered by the
[2397]
James Irvine Foundation that
found that Southeast Asian and
[2400]
Pacific Islander communities
were more likely to work in gig
[2405]
professions. And we know the
kinds of economic struggles that
[2409]
the gig economy has presented
during the pandemic. I think
[2412]
once all of the data come out
from this 2020-21 period, we're
[2419]
going to see these inequalities
actually get worse in the Asian
[2423]
American and Pacific Islander
community.
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