Immigrant population is neither randomly nor uniformly spread throughout the United States. According to INS statistics, 38 percent of all legal immigrants reside in California. In distant second place is New York with 13 percent. Third place is Texas with 9 percent. Florida (8%), Illinois (4.5%) and New Jersey (4.2%) follow these tree states. Just 6 states are home to 77 percent of the legal immigration population.
Contemporary trends are reinforcing these patterns of concentration. Map 1.1(Exhibit 7) shows the intended state of residence of the 2.4 million immigrants legally admitted in 1993, 1994 and 1995. The darkly shaded states were the most popular with the immigrants. Of those admitted 26 percent intended to make their home in California, 17 percent in New York, and 7.5 percent in Florida. Texas, Illinois and New Jersey ranked 4th, 5th and 6th as states of choice.
Statistics:
Puerto Rican
Population: According to the Population Bulletin, early in the 21st century, Hispanic Americans will become the largest U.S. ethnic minority. 2050 project the Hispanic or Latino population projected to number around 100 million and constitute 25% of the U.S. population, up from 11% in 1996. Statistical data will be provided at the end of the unit, which will include data only for Puerto Ricans. This Bulletin looks at three aspects of the U.S. Hispanic population:
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1) there growing numbers
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2) their increasing diversity
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3) their relative well-being
Future levels of Hispanic immigration will depend on U.S. policies, and other factors, but immigration is likely to continue for the foreseeable future. Fertility will likely contribute most future population growth.
Puerto Ricans will account for 10% of the Hispanic population in the 21st century. Although Hispanic population is growing faster than the Black population; the number of Hispanics will not surpass the number of Blacks in the U.S. for another decade. By 2020, Hispanics will outnumber Blacks by 7 million, according to The Official guide to Race and Ethnic Diversity.
Sixteen percent of children under age 5 are Hispanic, versus 4 percent of people 85 and older. Hispanics account for a much larger share of children and young adults than of older people. Sixty-nine percent of Puerto Ricans live in the Northeast.
Labor Force: Two out of three Hispanics aged 16 and older are in the labor force, including 79 percent of Hispanic men and 53 percent of Hispanic women. Forty seven percent of Hispanic households have two or more earners slightly greater than the 45 percent of all U.S. households with two wage earners.
Only 14 percent of Hispanics are employed in managerial or professional specialty occupations. Twenty-three percent of Hispanics are operators, /fabricators or laborers. Hispanics account for 9 percent of employed Americans. Hispanics will account for 11 percent of the labor force in 2005.
Education: Hispanics lag behind the total population in educational attainment. This is due in part to the fact that many are immigrants who came to the U.S. ad adults with few years of schooling. In 1994 only 53 percent of Hispanics had a high school diploma. Only 9 percent had a college degree versus 22 percent of the total population.
Hispanics earned over 45,000 bachelor's degrees in 1992 - 93. That is 4 percent of all bachelor's degrees awarded that year. This is far below the Hispanic share of the population. Hispanics earned 11 percent of bachelor's degrees in foreign language and literature in 1992 - 1993. At the first-professional degree level, they earned 6 percent of degrees in podiatry.
Income: The median income of Hispanic households fell by 7.5 percent between 1990 and 1994 to $23,421. The median income for Puerto Ricans was the lowest of all Hispanics at $18,541. In 1994, Hispanic men who worked fill-time had a median income of $20,525 and women who worked full-time had a median income of $18,418.
Hispanic men and women earn less than the average worker does because many Hispanics are recent immigrants with low educational levels. Hispanic and black families are about equally likely to be poor, but Hispanic married couples have a much higher poverty rate (20 %) than do Black couples (9%).
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Asian: (Japanese and Chinese)
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Population: According to Professor Millis, The Japanese Problem in the United States, there were only 55 Japanese in this country in 1870. By 1910 according to The U.S. Census there were 72,157 Japanese in the U.S. The 1990 Census of population reported 847,562 Japanese and 1,645,472 Chinese living in America.
The Asian-American population is projected to grow from about 10 million in 1996 to nearly 20 million by 2020 when Asian will account for 6 percent of the total U.S. population. The majority of Asians live in the West, where they account for nearly 10 percent of the population. California is home to 39 percent of the nation's Asian population. Los Angeles has more Asians than any other metropolitan area.
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Driving much of this growth is immigration. The Asian world region accounted for 45 percent of all immigrants to the U.S. in 1994, with the largest numbers coming from China, the Philippines and Vietnam. Fully 63 percent of Asian Americans are foreign born, according the 1990 census.
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Most Asian Americans speak English very well. Only 38 percent of that aged 5 or older do not speak English fluently. But among those aged 65 or older, more than half do not speak English very well.
Nearly 153,000 babies were born to Asian-American mothers in 1993, or just under 4 percent of all babies born that year. This proportion should rise to nearly 7 percent by 2020. In 1993, Asians accounted for fully 67 percent of all births in Hawaii and 10 percent of births in California.
Labor Force: More than 3.5 million Asians were in the civilian labor force in 1994, or 64 percent of all Asians Americans aged 16 or older. According to The Official Guide to Race & Ethnic Diversity 53 percent of all Asians households have at least two earners.
This compares with 45 percent of total households and is the highest proportion among all racial groups. The number of workers who are Asian or "other" race (primarily Native American) will grow by 39 percent between 1994 and 2005, this according to projections by The Bureau of Labor Statistics.
One-third of employed Asian men and women are in managerial or professional specialty occupations. This compares with 27 percent of men and 29 percent of women in the nation as a whole. Asians account for 2.8 percent of the nation's workers, but for 3.4 percent of managers and professionals.
Education: Asians are much better educated than the population as a whole according to Russell. As of 1994, 85 percent of all Asians were high school graduates, versus 81 percent of the total population. Fully 41 percent of Asians were college graduates, much higher than the 22 percent of the total population that have a bachelor's degree.
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Not only are Asians better educated than the average person; they are more likely to be enrolled in school. Overall, 37 percent of Asians aged 3 or older are in school, versus 27 percent of all Americans. Asians account for 5 percent of undergraduate enrollment and nearly 9 percent of enrollment at the first-professional degree level.
More than 51,000 bachelor's degrees were awarded to Asian Americans in 1999-93. Asians earned 11 percent of bachelor's degrees awarded in biological science and engineering. They also earned from 12 to 19 percent of first-professional degrees in the fields of dentistry, medicine, optometry and pharmacy.
Income: The median income of Asian households fell by 7 percent between 1990 and 1994 as the recession of the early 1990s cut into earnings. Despite this decline, Asian median household income was 25 percent greater than the median income of total households in 1994.
Nearly 20 percent of Asian households had incomes of $75,000 or more in 1993. Asian couples had the highest income, with a median of nearly $50,000. More than one in four Asian couples had an income of $75,000 or more. Asian families headed by women without a spouse have a higher median income than those headed by men without a spouse.
Asian men working year-round, full-time earned a median of $32,601 in 1994, up about 6 percent since 1990, after adjusting for inflation. Asian women earned a median income of $24,452, up one percent since 1990. Asian men and women earn slightly more than the average full-time worker does because they are better educated.
Because many Asians are recent immigrants, a relatively large proportion is poor. Forty-one percent of Asian families with a householder who did not graduate from high school are poor. The proportion that is poor falls to 7 percent among those with bachelor's degrees. Twelve percent of Asian married couples are poor, versus just 6 percent of all married couples.
Blacks: (African and Caribbean)
Population: According to The Official Guide to Racial & Ethnic Diversity, the Black population is projected to grow from 34 million in 1996 to more than 45 million by 2020, when Blacks will account for 14 percent of the total U.S. population. Blacks will remain the largest minority in the U.S. for about another 10 years. Sometimes between 2005 and 2010 Hispanics will surpass blacks and become the dominant minority.
Blacks account for a larger share of children and young adults than of older Americans because Black fertility and mortality is greater than that of the white majority population. While only 7.6 percent of all people aged 85 or older are black, 16 percent of children under age 5 are Black.
More than half of Blacks lives in the South, where they account for 19 percent of the population. In Mississippi, 36 percent of the population is Black, as is over 30 percent of the population in Louisiana and South Carolina.
Among metropolitan areas, New York has the largest number of Blacks, with 3.4 million in 1990. Blacks account for 18 percent of the population in the greater New York metropolitan area. Overall, there are 51 metropolitan areas with more than 100,000 blacks. Among them, the Black share of the population is highest in Jackson, Mississippi, at 42.5 percent.
Nearly 659,000 babies were born to Black mothers in 1993, or 16.5 percent of all babies born that year. Sixty-nine percent of all Black babies are born to unmarried mothers, the highest proportion among all racial and ethnic groups. Blacks accounted for 48 percent of all births in Mississippi in 1993 and for at least one-third of births in Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Maryland and South Carolina.
Labor Force: Sixty-four percent of Blacks aged 16 or older are in the labor force, including 69 percent of Black men and 60 percent of Black women. Black men are less likely to be in the labor force than men are nationally, who have a labor force participation rate of 75 percent. The labor force participation rate for Black women is close to that of all women.
Only 35 percent of Black households have two or more earners, well below the 45 percent of all U.S. households with two earners. Underlining this lower figure is the fact that married couples head relatively few Black households. Among Black couples, 56 percent are dual earners, slightly greater than the 55 percent of total couples that are dual earners. Fewer than 18 percent of Black couples are traditional-meaning only the husband works. Among all married couples, 22 percent are traditional.
Twenty percent of Blacks are employed in managerial or professional specialty occupations, below the 28 percent of all workers employed in these occupations. Conversely, 22 percent of Blacks are employed in service occupations, compared with 14 percent of all workers. Blacks account for 11 percent of all employed Americans, but for 17 percent of social, recreation, and religious workers and 28 percent of bus drivers. Twenty percent of employed blacks are union members, versus 15 percent of all workers.
Between 1994 and 2005, the number of black workers will grow by 15 percent. Blacks will account for 11 percent of the labor force in 2005.
Education: Seventy percent of Blacks were high school graduates in 1993. While this proportion is about 10 percentage points lower than the share of the total population with a high school diploma, blacks are rapidly gaining on whites.
Over the past few decades, Blacks have made great strides in educational attainment. This is due to a much greater educational level among young Blacks. As recently as 1980, barely half of blacks had graduated from high school. Among Blacks in there 20's and 30's, 83 percent are high school graduates.
Twelve percent of Blacks had a bachelor's degree in 1993, compared with 22 percent of the total population. Among black families with children aged 18 to 24, 28 percent have a child in college full-time. This rises t 56 percent among Black families with incomes of $75,000 or more. Over 1.5 million Blacks were in college in 1993, 43 percent of them full-time students at four-year schools.
Blacks earned 7 percent of bachelor's degrees, 5 percent of master's degrees and 3 percent of doctorates awarded in 1992-93. Blacks earned 8 percent of first-professional degrees awarded in theology and 9 percent of those awarded in podiatry in 1992-93.
Income: The median income for Blacks fell by 0.7 percent between 1990 and 1994, to $21,027, after adjusting fir inflation. All racial and ethnic groups lost ground during those years, but the decline for Black households were smaller than for any other group.
While Black household income grew relative to the income of others racial and ethnic groups, it stood at just 65 percent of the median for all households in 1994. The fact that married couples-typically the most affluent household types-are just 33 percent of all Black households accounts in a large part for the lower incomes of Blacks. Black married couples had a median income of $40,432 in 1994. While Black female-headed families had a median income of only $14,560.
For Black men and women, their income peaks between ages 45 and 54. Black men aged 45 to 54 who worked full-time had a median income of $31,310 in 1994, while Black women in this age group who work full-time had a median income of $23,233. The earnings of blacks rise steadily with education. Black men with at least a bachelor's degree who work full-time had a median income of $36,072; similarly educated black women earned $31,890.
Black families are more likely to be poor than the average American family, but Black poverty rates dropped sharply between 1990 and 1994. Overall, 31 percent of Blacks were poor in 1994; 44 percent among Blacks under age 18.
