Background: Migration Policy Institute data on Asian immigrants in the U.S. (2021)

There is a wealth of data from the Pew Research Center and other sources available on line. Constrast this modern profile with the history of asian immigration we considered in the first unit of the course. You need not read the whole report (linked below), but consider these facts on modern education and employment of Asian immigrants to the U.S.

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Immigrants from Asia on average have much higher educational attainment than both all foreign- and U.S.-born adults. In 2019, only 14 percent of immigrant adults from Asia had not completed high school, compared to 26 percent of all immigrants and 8 percent of U.S.-born adults. In contrast, more than half (54 percent) of Asian adults ages 25 and over had a bachelor’s degree or higher in 2019, compared to 33 percent of both total immigrant and U.S.-born adults.

The majority of immigrants from India (79 percent), Taiwan (73 percent), the United Arab Emirates (70 percent), Turkey (61 percent), and Malaysia (60 percent) were college graduates, compared to less than one-quarter of those from Cambodia (19 percent) and Laos (15 percent). In addition, more than half of college-educated immigrants from China, India, Iran, Israel, Lebanon, Taiwan, and Turkey had an advanced degree.

Asia is the primary sending region of international students to the United States. In the 2019-20 school year, 835,000 students from Asia accounted for 78 percent of the 1.1 million international students enrolled in U.S. higher educational institutions. China (373,000), India (193,000), South Korea (50,000), and Saudi Arabia (31,000) were the top four origin countries of all international students, accounting for significant shares of the U.S. total (see Table 3). Over the past decade, the number of students from Asia in the United States has increased by 73 percent, with the largest increases coming from students from Oman (882 percent increase), Kuwait (243 percent increase), Bangladesh (237 percent increase), mainland China (192 percent increase), and Myanmar (163 percent increase).

Table 3. Number and Share of International Students in the United States from Top Asian-Origin Countries, 2019-20 School Year

Source: MPI tabulation of data from the Institute of International Education (IIE), "International Student Totals by Place of Origin, 2019/20," Open Doors: Report on International Educational Exchange (New York: IIE, 2020), available online.

Immigrants from Asia participate in the labor force at a slightly lower rate than the overall immigrant population, but a slightly higher rate than the native born. In 2019, about 65 percent of immigrants ages 16 and over from Asia were in the civilian labor force, compared to 67 percent and 62 percent of foreign- and U.S.-born individuals, respectively.

More than half (53 percent) of Asian immigrants were employed in management, business, science, and arts occupations—a much higher share than the overall foreign- and U.S.-born populations (see Figure 6). In contrast, immigrants from Asia were also much less likely to be employed in natural resources, construction, and maintenance occupations (3 percent).

Figure 6. Employed Workers in the Civilian Labor Force (ages 16 and older) by Occupation and Origin, 2019

Note: Percentages may not add up to 100 as they are rounded to the nearest whole number.

Source: MPI tabulation of data from the U.S. Census Bureau 2019 ACS.

Immigrants from most Asian countries were primarily employed in management-related occupations, with those from India and Taiwan having the highest shares in these occupations (76 percent and 71 percent, respectively). The largest shares of immigrant workers from Laos (37 percent), Myanmar (36 percent), and Cambodia (30 percent) were employed in production occupations, while one-third of Vietnamese workers were employed in service occupations.

Many immigrants from Asian countries, especially India, are employed in high-skilled jobs and enter the United States on temporary H-1B visas for specialty occupation workers. Of the 388,000 H-1B petitions approved in fiscal year (FY) 2019, 72 percent of beneficiaries were born in India, followed by mainland China (13 percent). A combined 2 percent of approved H-1B petitions went to beneficiaries from South Korea, the Philippines, and Taiwan.

Income and Poverty

Immigrants from Asia have significantly higher incomes than the total foreign- and U.S.-born populations. In 2019, the median income of households headed by an immigrant from Asia was $88,000, compared to $64,000 and $66,000 for overall immigrant and U.S.-born households, respectively. Households headed by immigrants from India ($132,000), Taiwan ($104,000), Malaysia and the Philippines ($99,000 each), and Israel ($93,000) had the highest median income among all immigrant groups from Asia, while Saudi ($37,000), Iraqi ($44,000), and Afghani ($47,000) households had the lowest median incomes.

In 2019, Asian immigrants were less likely than the overall U.S.-born and overall immigrant populations to be in poverty, with 11 percent of immigrants from Asia below the federal poverty level compared to 12 percent of U.S.-born individuals and 14 percent of immigrants. Immigrants from Saudi Arabia (34 percent), Afghanistan (29 percent), Iraq (26 percent), Jordan (24 percent), and Syria (21 percent) were the most likely to be in poverty.