Asian Americans in The United States' Economy - Term Paper Example

The census 2000 shows that out of a total population of 281.4 million in the United s, 11.9 million or 4.2 percent were Asians. Out of the 11.9 million, about 10.2 million or 3.6 percent people are only Asian and the rest 1.7 million or 0.06 percent are Asian or one or more other races. This essay will discuss the characteristics of the Chinese out of this Asian population, where do they normally reside within US, their food habits, level of education, the male-female ratio, and their income level. As of May 2005, the Asian Americans make up about 5 percent of the US population (Asian-Nation). The term ‘Asians’ refers to the people having their origin in Far East, South East Asia or the Indian sub-continent. The Asian Americans are one of the fastest growing ethnic groups in terms of percentage increase in the US. Between 1990 and 2000, the Asian alone population grew at a very fast pace and Chinese are included in this Asian alone group. The Chinese Americans numbered 2.7 million in 2000 (Wikipedia), and make up 22.4% of Asian Americans. They are the largest Asian American sub-group. They constitute nearly 1% of the United States as a whole. The Chinese immigration to the United States has come with hardships and success. Today there are families who have been living in America for generations. They engage in every facet of American life ranging from the military to academics to sports. The Chinese Americans have adapted the American lifestyle. As per the Census 2000, forty-nine percent of the Asians lived in the West while only 20 percent lived in the Northeast, 19 percent in the South and a mere 12 percent in the Midwest. The Census 2000 further shows that about 51 percent of the total Asian population live in just three states – California, New York and Hawaii. The Chinese were the largest detailed Asian group in the United States as per the Census 2000. Out of 10.2 million only Asians there were 2.3 million who reported only Chinese. Another 0.4 million reported Chinese with one another race or Asian group. The Chinese who are a sub-group of Asian Americans is also known as the Chinese Americans. Cities like New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Houston, Seattle, and Philadelphia have the largest Chinese American population. California, New York, Hawaii, New Jersey and Texas - together these five States constitute more then 80% of the Chinese American population with 40% being in CA alone (Ameredia, 2006). Hawaii population includes nearly ten percent of Chinese Americans while California’s population includes three percent of Chinese Americans as of 2000. Due to decline in the birth rate, the Chinese population has been ageing. In Seattle, the number of Chinese Americans continue to grow. Apart from Eastside Communities, the number of Chinese residents in Seattle neighborhoods like Beacon Hill and areas to the south, such as Federal Way and Auburn has also increased. The census figures for 2004 estimated that 55,300 people of Chinese descent reside in King County alone (Chiu, 2006). Connecticut is now also a favorite destination with Chinese immigrants. Chinese community enclaves are known as Chinatown. Some of these cities have multiple Chinatowns inhabited by immigrants from the 1960s and the 1970s. Chinese Americans maintain close ties with Vietnamese Americans as many of these Vietnamese Americans are overseas Chinese. Apart from the large cities, small pockets of Chinese population is found in rural areas specially in university towns, spread throughout the United States. Major US Chinatown can be found in Chicago IL, Houston TX, Las Vegas NV, Los Angeles CA, Manhattan NY, Philadelphia PA, Portland OR, Oakland CA, San Francisco CA and Washington DC. There are old Chinatowns and new Chinatowns. Many residents of the new Chinatowns are wealthy professionals. The Chinese American income and social status varies widely. The well-educated upper class people live in areas like Cupertino, Palo Alto, Chino Hills, Diamond Bar, and San Marino. At the same time, in many large towns, the Chinese Americans living in the Chinatown areas are poor. The lower-class Chinese are looked down upon by the upper class Chinese as uneducated workers and illegal immigrants. In the San Gabriel Valley, the two cities, the Monterey Park and the San Marino are both Chinese American communities, geographically close to each other but there is huge disparity in income and social status. The average Chinese household income is about 30% higher than the national average. About 84% of Chinese Americans between ages 35-44 own a home (Ameredia). The per capita income for Chinese Americans in New York City was $16,700 –, which is lower than the city average (AAF, 2004). Nearly 43 percent of the New York City’s Asian population comprises of Chinese Americans (AAF, n.d.). More than 60 percent of the Chinese New Yorkers had limited English proficiency in 2000. They had lower incomes than the average New Yorkers; they had also received less schooling than others had. A Chinese American can claim his identity in the United States based on his ethnic affiliation or cultural affiliation. Some Chinese identify themselves as ethnic Chinese and not cultural Chinese while others identify themselves as cultural and not ethnic Chinese. The ethnic Chinese are those who have either been living in the United States for generations, due to which they may also be American born Chinese (ABC), or even the first generation Chinese immigrants. The Chinese students in American universities identify themselves as ethnic Chinese. Those who identify themselves with the Chinese culture may or may not identify with the ethnicity. The American Chinese community is keen to retain its distinct cultural identity (Schweitzer, 2005). The second-generation immigrants try to remain attached to their Chinese roots. Cultural heritage is handed down through oral or written tradition. Anecdotes and stories among the Chinese families are passed down from one generation to another. Chinese parents have a strong influence on Chinese students’ academic performance. Their hereditary and cultural advantages contribute to the academic success of the Chinese students (Zhang & Carrasquillo, 1995). The Chinese families prevail upon their children to be conscious of the sacrifices that their elders have made for them, they demand and expect their children to fare well in the school, they are expected to obey and respect elders. In general, they are taught to live with a feeling of gratitude at every stage in life. Chinese students bring their cultural knowledge of behavior to the classroom. They at times have to face conflict between the two cultures – that in which they have been brought up at home and the other, which is imposed in school. The ABC tend to be better educated than the general Chinese population. They are known as ‘model minority’ with talent in math and science. The majority of the American-born-Chinese children are absolutely fluent English speakers. They rarely speak Mandarin or other dialects. The children of immigrants speak Chinese at home daily. To maintain their roots with the Chinese culture, many parents prefer to send their children to Chinese schools. Their level of education is in line with the American population. The Chinese culture itself lays great emphasis on work ethic and in pursuing knowledge. Scholars are always ranked above the businessmen and landowners. About 38% of the Chinese Americans have bachelor’s degree or higher compared to 22% national average. Further research reveals that Chinese Americans in New York, which comprise nearly half of Asian Americans in New York, have a lower standard of living than the city’s overall population. They had lower incomes, higher general and elderly poverty rates, less education and less command over English than the general population of the city residents (AAF). Nearly one-third of the adult Chinese Americans have not studied beyond the ninth-grade and 42 percent were not high school graduates. About 85% of senior Chinese American citizens had limited English proficiency. The Census 2000 further indicates Chinese Americans in Boston Chinatown, Malden, and Quincy has fewer formal schooling than average Asian Americans (Hung, n.d). There are only 16% Chinese graduates in Boston Chinatown, while Quincy and Malden have 24%, and 34% graduates respectively. About 60% of the Chinese Americans in these three enclaves speak good or very good English. Even though the economic situation in China has improved, there is no slowdown in the number of people wanting to immigrate to the United States. Overall, there are more Asian American males in the United States than females. In many instances, the man resides in the US but the family is back home. This has been associated legacy of U.S. immigration and the contemporary quota system. As per the Census 2000, 60.2 percent of the Asians are married and 4.2 percent are divorced (Pobronson). Only 3.8 percent of the female householders live with no spouse and no separate data is available for the Chinese Americans. Two-thirds of the Chinese American women surveyed reported that their parents’ marriage had been based on responsibility and obligation. As such, they were discouraged from getting married. They did not want to date the Asian American men, as the women are obliged to adopt traditional, submissive gender roles, while the women were more in tune with the western culture and were looking for partners who would share responsibilities. The Chinese Americans are divided into many sub-groups. This is based on various factors like the generation, place of origin, and the socio-economic level. The attitudes too, vary widely between active support, hostility, or indifference. The sub-groups carry conflicting priorities and goals. Although the majority of the Chinese vote for Democrats, they do have any unified political viewpoints. Recently, many Chinese Americans have entered into politics. The Chinese Americans are not to be feared because they are far from taking jobs away from native-born Americans. They are in fact well known for creating jobs by investing their own capital in areas like the restaurants, garment, and other industries. They thereby contribute to the American economy (Campi, 2004). Government and private employment data sources do not readily provide an estimate of private businesses in Chinatown. American Business Incorporated (ABI) undertook a survey of the Chinese owned and operated businesses and Chinese workers in Chinatown in parts of four ZIP codes of Lower Manhattan. The survey was done through telephone, personal visits from door-to-door and a private industry survey. This survey revealed the informal contribution to the economy by the Chinese Americans. ABI estimated 3855 businesses in Chinatown. Out of these, there were 246 garment factories according to the Labor Apparel Industry Task Force at the New York State Department of Labor. The rest were non-garment businesses. ABI (2002) further estimated that 5.5 employees was the average number of workers in the non-garment business in the major ZIP code in Chinatown, which amounted to 19,850 non-garment workers. According to UNITE there are 13,808 unionized and non-unionized garment workers. Thus the total private employment in garment and non-garment businesses amounts to 33,658. This is merely the estimate from one area and there are several such pockets of private business all over the United States. Chinatowns provide social support to the new immigrants. They operate like the secondary system of the government. They raise funds to build churches, hospitals and temples. After the September 11 devastation, the Chinatown business owners suffered a severe setback. A survey conducted by the Asian American Business Development Center (AABDC) in 2002 revealed that half the respondents lost more than 40% of their businesses. The gross revenue loss amounted to $58,463 while the median amount of grant money awarded was $2,225, and the median amount of SBA disaster loan assistance was $22,000. The Chinatown business owners expressed that they did require more of loans and grants but they wanted to move ahead strategically towards structured tourism development. This would help to give a thrust and assist in thriving in downtown Manhattan. They needed the loans and grants to meet the rent, salary and regular cash flow requirements. They had to lay off an average of 2 employees per business. The loans and grants had not been fully met even after seven months of the disaster. It can thus be concluded that despite racial discrimination, the Chinese Americans have come a long way since 1990. The education level is going up with each generation and many who are born in America are at par with the native-born Americans. Nevertheless, they would never relinquish their roots and their culture. In fact, now with the economy of China on the upswing, they are proud to be identified as Chinese; they are proud of the fact that many software engineers work with Microsoft. No clear-cut data was available on the male-female ratio in the Chinese American community but the women appear to overcome the traditional role of being the submissive homemaker. They have assimilated with the local American culture. The Chinese American contribute in their own way to the economy of United States through the Chinatown enterprises. Hostility towards them is now history. They are well integrated into the American system and are an important part of the growth and development. Reference: AABDC (2002), Chinatown Strongly Needs More Tourism And Promotion, 04 May 2006 AAF (2004) Asian American Federation, 04 May 2006 AAF (n.d.), Census Profile: New York City’s Chinese American Population, 04 May 2006 ABI (2000), An Economic Impact Study, 04 May 2006 Ameredia (2006), Chinese American Demographics, 04 May 2006 Campi A J (2004), Remembering December 17, 04 May 2006 Census 2000 Brief: The Asian Population, 04 May 2006 Chiu L (2006), The Seattle Times, Mixed emotions from local Chinese over Hus visit, 04 May 2006 Hung C R (n.d.), Separate But Connected: Challenges Amid Progress for Chinese American Enclaves in Boston, 04 May 2006 Pobronson, Asian American Families, 04 May 2006 Schweitzer V (2005), Chinese diaspora: United States, BBC News, 04 May 2006 Wikipedia, Chinese American, 04 May 2006 Wikipedia, American born Chinese, 04 May 2006 Zhang & Carrasquillo (1995), Chinese Parents Influence on Academic Performance, New York State Association for Bilingual Education Journal v10 p46-53, Summer 1995, 04 May 2006 Read More