 What Now?
Thirty-five years after immigration barriers to Asian Pacific Americans have been blown open, bringing waves of professionals to the United States, this community continues to dominate the hot industries and careers of the moment. While the big news in the past year has been the high-tech boom and bomb, AsianWeek takes a closer look at the range of career paths that Asian Americans are undertaking. We tracked down everyone from a 6th grade teacher to a kick-boxing instructor to a bioinformatics specialist to prove that Asian Americans are no longer pigeon-holed in the doctor/engineer track.
According to Census 2000, Asian American families had a median family income of $48,614, the highest of any racial group, nearly $9,000 above the national average for all populations. Yet, over 10 percent of APA households were below the poverty level. The high median income is attributed to the many extended families that make up the APA community.
In 1997, data showed that managers and professionals made up more than 41 percent of the APA workforce. The high-tech industry, fueled by a large number of foreign-born workers recruited directly from Asia, also has much to do with Asian America’s strong employment statistics.
In the past 10 years, urban centers have become reliant on the high-tech revolution — especially in California’s Silicon Valley. According to a study done by the Milken Institute in San Diego, some 25 percent of the jobs in San Francisco were tech related by the year 2000, compared to 16 percent in 1990.
A study done by Anna Lee Saxenian, a professor of community and regional development at U.C. Berkeley, found that one-third of all scientists and engineers in Silicon Valley’s high-tech industries are foreign born. Of these, almost two-thirds are Asian. While Asian Americans often lag in administrative and management positions in industries they dominate, Saxenian found that one-quarter of Silicon Valley’s high-tech businesses are run by Asian Americans, accounting for some $16.8 billion in gross revenue per year.
With the high-tech boom, temporary workers on H-1B visas are starting a whole new wave of immigration, especially from India. The initial limit of 115,00 H-1Bs was reached by March of 2000 and Congress increased the cap to 195,000, which was reached by September.
But the runaway American economy has finally slowed down, bringing with it hundreds-of-thousands of lay-offs and whispers of a recession. According to job placement firm Challenger, Gray and Christmas, high-tech job cuts rose steadily through the latter half of 2000. Some 75,000 jobs were slashed in the last year-and-a-half, with 34,000 of those occuring in the first quarter of 2001. The H-1B workers who are laid off must find a new job within 10 days and have their new employer apply to the INS for a transfer of the paperwork within those 10 days.
Experts say the economy is should stabilize within the next few years. But as Asian Americans suffer from dot-com fall-out, they are also finding fulfilling work in fields across the board.
Ten Occupations with the Largest Job Decline, 1998-2008
(Numbers in thousands of jobs)
| Occupation |
#1998 |
#2008 |
#Change |
%Change |
| Farmers |
1,308 |
1,135 |
-173 |
-13 |
| Sewing machine operators, garment |
369 |
257 |
-112 |
-30 |
| Child care workers, private household |
306 |
209 |
-97 |
-32 |
| Word processors and typists |
459 |
365 |
-93 |
-20 |
| Bookkeeping, accounting, and auditing clerks |
2,078 |
1,997 |
-81 |
-4 |
| Cleaners and servants, private household |
600 |
530 |
-71 |
-12 |
| Farm workers |
851 |
794 |
-57 |
-7 |
| Computer operators, except peripheral equipment |
224 |
170 |
-54 |
-24 |
| Textile draw-out and winding machine operators |
192 |
141 |
-50 |
-26 |
| Bank tellers |
560 |
529 |
-31 |
-5 |
The 10 Fastest Growing Occupations, 1998-2008
(Numbers in thousands of jobs)
| Occupation |
#1998 |
#2008 |
#Change |
%Change |
| Computer engineers |
299 |
622 |
323 |
108 |
| Computer support specialists |
429 |
869 |
439 |
102 |
| Systems analysts |
617 |
1,194 |
577 |
94 |
| Database administrators |
87 |
155 |
67 |
77 |
| Desktop publishing specialists |
26 |
44 |
19 |
73 |
| Paralegals and legal assistants |
136 |
220 |
84 |
62 |
| Personal care and home health aides |
746 |
1,179 |
433 |
58 |
| Medical assistants |
252 |
398 |
146 |
58 |
| Social and human service assistants |
268 |
410 |
141 |
53 |
| Physician assistants |
66 |
98 |
32 |
48 |
The 10 Industries with the Fastest Wage and Salary Employment Growth, 1998-2008
(Numbers in thousands of jobs)
| Industry |
#1998 |
#2008 |
#Change |
%Change |
| Computer and data processing services |
1,599 |
3,472 |
1,872 |
117 |
| Health services, not elsewhere classified |
1,209 |
2,018 |
809 |
67 |
| Residential care |
747 |
1,171 |
424 |
57 |
| Management and public relations |
1,034 |
1,500 |
466 |
45 |
| Personnel supply services |
3,230 |
4,623 |
1,393 |
43 |
| Miscellaneous equipment rental and leasing |
258 |
369 |
111 |
43 |
| Museums, botanical and zoological gardens |
93 |
131 |
39 |
42 |
| Research and testing services |
614 |
861 |
247 |
40 |
| Miscellaneous transportation services |
236 |
329 |
94 |
40 |
| Security and commodity brokers |
645 |
900 |
255 |
40 |
|
