“When Indians make $120,000, Koreans make $70,000″
There is a stereotype that Asian Americans are wealthy and highly educated, but it turns out that income and education vary widely depending on the country of origin.
According to a recent survey by the Pew Research Center, the median annual income of Asian Americans in 2019 was $85,800 meaning that the median income of all American households was 61,800.
In addition, it was found that 54% of Asians have a bachelor’s degree or higher in the population over the age of 25.
This is a huge gap compared to 33% of all Americans of the same age group.
However, when subdivided by country of origin, there was a large variance.
The median income of Indians was $119,000, which was twice the national average, while the median income of Myanmar people was 44,400 dollars, which was below the average of the entire U.S.
The median income of Korean households in the United States was $72,200, somewhere between that of India and Myanmar.
In terms of education level, India(75%), Sri Lanka(60%), China, Pakistan, Korea(57% or more), and Japan(52%) had more than 50% of those with a bachelor’s degree or higher, but Southeast Asians such as Cambodia, Vietnam and Laos have 30% of the students did not even get a high school diploma.
Neil Lewis, deputy director of racial and ethnic studies at the Pew Research Center, said the starting point differs depending on the country of origin.
For example, it is impossible to equate Indian immigrants who came to the United States with high-paying jobs in high-tech companies and Myanmar refugees who fled to the United States to escape oppression by the Myanmar military.
The Asian-American population doubled from 2000 to 2019, reaching 22 million today.
Asians, the fastest-growing ethnic group in the United States, are expected to reach 46 million by 2060, according to the Pew Research Center. In the United States, Asians are portrayed biasedly as the epitome of highly educated, wealthy and successful immigrants.
As we generalize only a few cases, the Pew Research Center pointed out that in school settings, when an Asian student is quiet, it often means that they understand what they are learning, even if it means that they need help.
It is also pointed out that Asians are suffering double damage, such as being trapped in the framework of ‘exemplary minorities’ created by the mainstream society and becoming victims of hate crimes.
Allen Wu, a history professor at Indiana University, said he had to keep insisting that Asian Americans suffered from racism, hostility and violence.
