Press Release

For Immediate Release: Contact Tuesday, May 4, 2003 TC Duong or Max Niedzwiecki, Ph.D. Tel: 202/667-4690,searac@searac.org

Not the "Model Minority"

2000 Census Reveals Achievement Gaps, and Signs of Hope, for Americans from Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam

WASHINGTON, DC — According to the 2000 Census, Americans from some Asian backgrounds — for example, people from Cambodia and Laos — are significantly less likely than most other Americans to hold college degrees, more likely to have had no formal education, and more likely to live in poverty. However, the communities are quickly progressing in these and other areas.

Most Americans from Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam arrived in the U.S. as refugees after the Vietnam War, or are the children of refugees. They number over 1.8 million, and people in most of their communities have become U.S. citizens at rates higher than the national average.

The Southeast Asia Resource Action Center (SEARAC, www.searac.org), a national organization for Americans from Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam, has just released statistics from the 2000 Census and other sources detailing its community's profile. Some of their most striking findings are in the fields of education and income:

Attainment of Bachelor's Degrees: Over half of Hmong-American women — members of a group renowned for their partnership with the U.S. during the Vietnam War — have had no formal education at all, compared to a national average for all Americans at just over one percent. Only about five percent of women in that community have college degrees, compared to nearly a quarter of Americans overall who are aged twenty-five and over. On the opposite ends of the spectrum among Southeast Asian Americans, nearly twenty percent of Vietnamese adults hold bachelor's degrees, and only eight percent of them have had no formal education. Cambodian and Laotian Americans tend to fall between the two extremes. Just over nine percent of Cambodian adults hold bachelor's degrees or higher, as do over seven and a half percent of Laotian Americans.

"A lot of the differences between the Southeast Asian groups in terms of education can be explained by looking at their histories," according to Bouy Te, Board Chair of SEARAC. "Some people came here as refugees without any access to formal education. Some came here after several years of educational interruptions. It takes time, effort, and support for people to move from that kind of situation to the kind of success we hope for in America. SEARAC is putting a lot of resources and energy into this very important issue."

Bo Thao of Hmong National Development adds that between the 1990 and 2000 Census, the percentage of Hmong Americans aged twenty-five and over holding bachelor's degrees jumped from three percent to over 7 percent. "We have a lot to be proud of, a lot to celebrate, but also a lot of work ahead of us," says Ms. Thao. "There are thousands of success stories hiding in those census numbers."

School Enrollment: Cambodian, Laotian, and Vietnamese American communities show especially high levels of school enrollment, when compared to the overall national average. For example, approximately 36 percent of Americans overall aged 20 to 24 are enrolled in school, compared with 44 percent of Cambodian, 38 percent of Hmong, 38 percent of Laotian, and 58 percent of Vietnamese Americans.

Per Capita Income: Three Southeast Asian American groups (Cambodian, Hmong, and Laotian) had average per-person incomes below $12,000, and Hmong Americans had the lowest average per-person income of any ethnic group described by the 2000 Census: $6,613. Vietnamese Americans had an average per-person income of just over $15,000, compared with over $21,000 for the U.S. population considered overall.

Poverty Rates: In 1999, over 29 percent of Cambodian Americans, 37 percent of Hmong Americans, 19 percent of Laotian Americans, and 16 percent of Vietnamese Americans lived under the poverty line, compared with just over 12 percent of the U.S. population overall. Although clear challenges remain for the communities, their economic status improved dramatically between 1989 and 1999. In 1989, 47 percent of Cambodians, 66 percent of Hmong, 67 percent of Laotians, and 34 percent of Vietnamese in the U.S. lived in poverty, according to the Census Bureau.

Poverty and educational status are clearly related, according to Vilay Chaleunrath of the Laotian American National Alliance. "Many Southeast Asian communities are still more likely to be in poverty, and we know that poor kids are less likely to have the best educational options. Because of their gifts, luck, family support or other unusual circumstances some can rise above poverty, but they're at an unfair disadvantage."

"Community groups and others need more help to address those remaining needs," according to Huy Bui of the National Alliance of Vietnamese American Service Agencies. "Hundreds of ethnic associations, temples, churches, and other groups across the country have made great progress with their communities, and we all need to find better ways to help them develop and to support them. Many of those groups are real treasures."

"There are so many hopeful signs for the progress of Southeast Asian American communities — economically and educationally," according to Vi Houi of the Cambodian American National Council. "Just to take one example, college enrollment in our communities has never been higher."

"We need to magnify that energy to support Southeast Asian Americans, along with Pacific Islanders and other underrepresented groups who still face hurdles to getting college degrees," according to Kamuela Chun, who serves with SEARAC on the Working Group to establish the new Asian and Pacific Islander American Scholarship Fund. "Our new scholarship fund is being set up to help students, especially the ones from communities that are underrepresented or disadvantaged for one reason or another."

The Southeast Asia Resource Action Center (SEARAC) has compiled extensive statistics from the 2000 Census on Southeast Asian Americans and education — as well as other topics such as income, immigration, economic achievement, and housing — and released them in a report titled Southeast Asian American Statistical Profile, accessible on the Internet at www.searac.org/new.html. Copies in book form can be ordered by contacting 202/667-4690 or searac@searac.org. Production of the report was supported by the Ford Foundation, the Joyce Foundation, and Washington Mutual.

The APIA Scholarship Fund can be visited at www.apiasf.org.

See Also:

• Southeast Asian American Statistical Profile
• APIASF