A new study reveals that, contrary to the stereotype, almost one in four Asian and Pacific Islanders in California is struggling with poverty even though they have jobs.
The results of the survey were released Monday and were conducted jointly by AAPI Data, an organization researching and collecting data concerning the Asian American and Pacific Islander population in the U.S.,and the Public Religion Research Institute, a nonpartisan research and education organization.
The results, released Monday, from a survey of 2,684 residents in California found that 23 percent of Asian and Pacific Islanders are working but struggling with poverty. Federal data show that the overall poverty rate among Asians was just 12 percent, marking a “narrowing of the white-Asian gap”, according to a 2016 report by the Pew Research Center.
“Although statistical averages show that AAPIs as a whole exhibit relatively high levels of employment and earning power, this report reveals significant areas of concern,” the report’s executive summary states. “Like for the rest of the population, we find a state of ‘two Californias’ among AAPIs – one where some AAPI workers report a great deal of financial stability and one in which other AAPI workers report significant financial insecurity and struggle.”
The Asian American and Pacific Islander community is fastest-growing among other racial group in the U.S., growing over four times as rapidly as the total U.S. population. They make up close to 15 percent of the California’s resident population, the AAPI Data report states.
Ethnic groups lumped together under the “Asian” umbrella perpetuates the stereotype that they are share similar traits, such as being more likely to be economically stable compared to other racial groups. Other ethnic groups, especially southeast Asians immigrants, have sometimes fallen through the cracks in data representation, resulting in less resources and social services.
Karthick Ramakrishnan, founder of AAPI Data and political science and public policy professor at UC Riverside, said the research aims to shed more light on populations that are unnoticed but struggling to get by.
“This is to better understand how economic struggle plays out in these groups, even including those who don’t fit the federal definition of poverty,” he said.
Language support had been provided to respondents with the highest language needs, Ramakrishnan said. The report follows efforts studying the struggles of Californian workers in a report released earlier by PRRI in 2018.
The report used the poverty threshold based on the Census Bureau’s definition, specifically California’s Supplemental Poverty Measure, to identify potential respondents for the study.
Important findings are as follows:
- Forty-four percent of Hmong and 36 percent of Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander Californians are working and struggling with poverty, the highest proportions among the Asian population. Many reported that they experienced economic hardships, such as being unable to pay a monthly bill or having to use food stamps.
- They are followed by Chinese and Filipinos, which account for 30 percent and 24 percent of their relatively larger communities struggling with poverty.
- More than one-third of the foreign-born respondents are working and struggling with poverty as compared to 43 percent of native-born respondents.
- Half of the Asian American and Pacific Islanders in San Joaquin Valley are working and struggling with poverty; 37 percent within the Inland Empire regions; and 20 percent within Sacramento Valley.
- Forty-one percent of respondents said they or a member of their household have experienced at least one negative workplace experience last year, such as working overtime without being paid for it, or being paid less than the minimum wage.
- One of the major obstacles to finding a better job is that they are too far away from where they live, according to 43 percent of survey respondents. Twenty-two percent said they did not know where to look for good job announcements.
- But optimism also prevails among some people in the community. More than one-third of respondents said they are doing financially better than other Californians.
The report also presents a historical context and demographic characteristics of California’s AAPI population.
Researchers see the report as an important educational tool, Ramakrishnan said, hoping funders, policy makers and non-profits in California can better understand the group.
The report will launch later in L.A. and Orange County. AAPI Data is also planning a briefing in Sacramento area in January, as well as further briefings in Bay Area, Fresno and Central Valley.
The James Irvine Foundation funded the project.
This story was originally published November 18, 2019 12:30 PM.
