Comparing minorities in the United States

The US Census Bureau published these documents in 2004/2005 about data retrieved in the 2000 Census about various racial and national minorities in the United States:

Arabs - http://www.census.gov/prod/2005pubs/censr-21.pdf
Asians - http://www.census.gov/prod/2004pubs/censr-17.pdf
Blacks - http://www.census.gov/prod/2005pubs/censr-25.pdf
Hispanics - http://www.census.gov/prod/2004pubs/censr-18.pdf


Unfortunately I couldn't find any documents for White Americans and I don't believe there are any... so this thread will deal only with minorities in the United States. Here are a few interesting stats from these documents about minority incomes in the United States:

















Now, it's very clear that differences _do_ exist based on race and national origin. Most Arab Americans are immigrants like Asian Americans, yet Asian Americans (particularily Japanese and Indian Americans) have much higher median incomes than Arab Americans. The Hmong people, while racially very similar to other east Asians, particularily Han Chinese, are considerably lower than them in terms of income. Hispanics aren't a single race and it shows; their annual income varies from $28,729 for Dominican Hispanic Americans to $53,002 for people of direct Spaniard descent. Black Americans, after having lived here for centuries, been naturalized and made equal decades ago, have a disproportionately low median income overall - $17000 below the average, on average.

So, the debate topic is: Why do these differences exist?

 

Well, I think the answer's pretty obvious. Putting cultural/racial differences aside... I'd say the basic explanation goes as this:

What sort of Asians end up in America?
1. Highly educated (frequently recruited from top knotch colleges), or to work in companies
2. Wealthy - able to pay their way in.
3. Unorthodox - using family connections, winning immigrantation lotteries.... etc

Examine one and two closely and the salary disparity... doesn't seem like much a disparity at all. Have you done a general survey for the education level for first generation Asians? And it's not just educational level, it's work ethic and intelligence as well... which is frequently passed on to next generation.

As for why some groups don't make as much is probably because they got here through unorthdox means. Low-education level combined with poor verbal skills (lack of English education) + inherent racial bias will lead to that.

In conclusion, the Asians that arrive in America cannot be representative of a race as a whole.

Edit: You'll find Hmong/Han people to be surprisingly different.

 

The same could be said for Arab immigrants, right? Yet two Asian groups (Indian and Japanese) surpass the income of their highest nationality by about $10000.

Yes, these documents do show educational attainment status, you'll just have to look through them yourself.

It may just be because I'm not East Asian, but I have a lot of difficulty telling you guys apart.

 

Woah, I mean to respond to this thread then it somehow slipped.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brain_drain

I suppose the disparity between Indian/Chinese workers is probably due to the large amount of Chinese in the U.S. prior - incoming immigrants from China usually have a pretty high salary.

Well precisely. This seems to suggest that the salary difference is not caused by any sort of physical differences among the races.

 

This is the truest fact I've heard all day.

Everyone started in the same exact place. People eventually moved out in different groups to different areas. We all were made and originated from 1 common place (Pangea- Eurasia, Gondolawanda). Eventually people all drifted apart and then natural selection happened.

People had adapted to the environments and took advantage of what their surroundings offered. In Asia and Europe, there were a larger a surplus of resources, thus causing a large population (E.G: Fact that people move where they can survive).

From that, the larger population made it increasingly more difficult to survive (more people= less oppertunity) so people worked harder. Eventually it was realized that the scarcity of jobs and resources were going to be limited so people looked for new places to expand.

Short while after the World Wars and the Industrial Revolution (in no particular order), many people over-seas realized that the U.S was going to be the next world-power. From there, people emigrated to the America's, seeking oppertunities.

Oh what do you have there, a bunch of available jobs and a low population. People there didn't really have to apply themselves to get the best jobs nor did they have the motivation to excel. Oh? The over-seas immigrants already have the necessary qualities? What? They do it because it's what they were acustomed to already? Welcome to America, you start Monday.

And that's the story of minorities.

 

to get a better comparison between minorities, you should visit a prison. it tends to be where minorities prefer to live.

 

Asians probably make more money since a lot of people stereotype them to be smarter. And believe it or not, asians are actually everywhere in the top colleges. I'm also not racist but it always tends to be the african americans and hispanics that are more violent. Minorities are in jail because they can't support themselves and resort to things like robbery/ drug dealing.

 

I think income has a direct link to nationality for several reasons, people from other countries are inclined to work harder due to severe financial disruption. They realize and so do there parents that working hard and getting an education will earn them more money.

 

It is a traditional and ingrained trait in some cultures that hard work is the only way to attain success. Such as in China, the rice farmers spend 360 days a year working in the fields. As a result, their children, if they are not farmers, will be raised in an environment in which tireless work ethic and hard work are praised with success. If they go to school, they will take with them the lessons their parents learned. These days, much fewer people are rice farmers, but the lessons learned in the early stages of the country's existence and livelihood are passed down and carried out.

To summarize, it is largely the result of the early years of a country and the qualities stressed in the cultures.

 

Asians and whites make the most money and some really rich brown people.

 

Brown people _are_ Asians. I think you mean East Asians when you say Asians... though if we were to compare South Asian Americans and East Asian Americans, their incomes are pretty much equal.