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Census: Asians Surge Ahead, Mexicans Lag by Steve Sailer UPI, October 4, 2000 |
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Re-enforcing common stereotypes about differences between immigrant groups, the U.S. Census Bureau reported today that American residents who were born in Asia "compare favorably" to native-born Americans. In contrast, the new data show the Latin American-born lagging significantly on a host of measures of well-being. According to "Coming to America: A Profile of the Nation's Foreign Born," the number of immigrants living in the U.S. soared to a record 25.8 million in 1997 -- larger than the population of any state other than California. This is a dramatic rise from the 9.6 million foreign-born residents in 1970, just as changes in the immigration laws were initiating this new era of mass immigration. The biggest increases since 1970 came among immigrants born in Latin America -- up from 1.8 million to 13.1 million -- and among the Asian-born, who increased from 0.8 million to 6.8 million. Yet, these two groups have diverged strikingly in economic and social performance. The Asian-born now enjoy 20% higher median household incomes than people born in this country do. This stems in part from 63% of the Asian-born having attended college compared to 49% of the natives. Further, Asian immigrants are more likely to be managers and professionals (36% vs. 30% of those born here). A closer look at the data, however, shows that despite impressive average incomes, Asian immigrants are by no means living on Easy Street. One reason they achieve high household earnings is because they tend to have more people working per household. Family sizes are larger and the proportion of retirees over 65 is smaller. Also, their salaries may be high, but so are their costs of living. Of all immigrants from Asia, 45% cluster in the Los Angeles, New York, and San Francisco areas, where real estate is especially expensive. In contrast, immigrants from Latin America, especially from Mexico, tend to find themselves well behind both the native-born and the Asian-born. The Mexican numbers are particularly important, since Mexicans account for 28% of the foreign-born, which is six times the percentage from the next largest supplier of immigrants. Men from Mexico earned barely half of what the native born did. Only 6% of the Mexican-born held managerial or professional jobs, one-sixth of the Asian proportion. While 14% of natives lacked health insurance, more than half of Mexican newcomers did without. Lack of education holds back Latin immigrants. While only 16% of natives and the Asian-born don't earn a high school diploma, 53% of first generation Latinos failed to graduate. For the Mexican-born, the dropout rate is 69%. Just 14% of Mexican immigrants have attended any college. The poverty rate for Latin American immigrants was about double the percentages for natives (13%) and Asians (15%). Among Mexican-born residents, 34% are poor. One third of Mexicans received noncash public assistance, such as Medicaid. That's about twice the rate for natives and Asians. Mexicans had larger families, with 4.4 people per household compared to 2.6 for natives. Some groups of Latin immigrants, especially Cubans, tend to quickly become U.S. citizens. Overall, though, only 24% of the Latin-born have become naturalized. Mexican-born American residents drag down the regional total. Only 15% of them are citizens. In contrast, 44% of Asians have been naturalized. Steve Sailer (www.iSteve.com) is a columnist for VDARE.com and the film critic for The American Conservative.
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