Isao Takei

Poverty among Asian Americans in the 21St Century

Using the American Community Survey from 2005 to 2007, this study investigates absolute and relative poverty among Asian-Americans. The results indicate that both absolute and relative poverty are slightly higher among Asians than among whites overall as well as by nativity status (i.e., foreign born vs. native born). More detailed analysis suggests, however, that these racial differences appear to be largely associated with factors relating to immigration. Poverty is much higher among recent immigrants than among those who have been in the United States for more than five years, and foreign-born Asians are more likely to be recent immigrants than are foreign-born whites. Furthermore, after controlling for basic demographic characteristics, poverty is actually lower among foreign-born Asians than among foreign-born whites. Among native-born adult Asians (i.e., those who are not dependent on the incomes of immigrant parents), poverty is lower than among whites especially in terms of being characterized as members of the “working poor.” However, significant ethnic differentials within the Asian category are evident. Poverty rates higher than those for whites continue to be evident among the native-born adult offspring of Cambodians, Hmong, and Thai. The theoretical implications of these findings are discussed.

The Myth of the Model Minority Myth

With continued cost increases as well as demands for charitable donations and economic subsidies, universities are concerned with public relations and political legitimacy. The latter are fostered by the Model Minority Myth which implicitly asserts the moral superiority of universities and their graduates by condemning American society in general and the white working class in particular as being racist. Despite its intellectual and empirical limitations, the Model Minority Myth persists because it promotes the political power of universities in the current era of increasing inequality and the rising exploitation of the working class that are fostered by educational credentialism.

Cost of Being a Mexican Immigrant and Being a Mexican Non-Citizen in California and Texas

This study examines the labor market costs associated with being foreign-born and not having U.S. citizenship among Mexicans in California and Texas, the two largest states. Data from the 2000 5% Public Use Microdata Sample are used to conduct the multivariate regression analysis. The results show that being an immigrant, particularly a non-citizen immigrant, is associated with lower hourly wages in California as compared with Texas. The results also indicate that these costs are greater for those who arrived after 1990, especially in California. Findings suggest that Mexican immigrants faced harsher social context in California in the post-IRCA (Immigration Reform and Control Act) period, as represented in anti-immigrant policies and sentiments. Partly, larger population concentration of immigrants, especially non-citizens, could be a source of intensive within-group labor market competition among the foreign-born workers.

Socioeconomic differentials among single-race and multi-race Japanese Americans

Abstract Using data from the 2000 US Census, this study investigates various groups of single-race and multi-race Japanese Americans in terms of their schooling and wages. The results indicate that all categories of Japanese Americans tend to have higher schooling than whites. Single-race Japanese Americans tend to have higher schooling than multi-race Japanese Americans, and 1.5-generation Japanese Americans tend to have higher schooling than native-born Japanese Americans. With the exception of foreign-educated, immigrant Japanese Americans, most of the wage differentials are explained by schooling and a few other demographic characteristics. These results are rather inconsistent with traditional assimilation theory which posits rising socioeconomic attainments with increasing acculturation. Instead, the findings suggest a reverse pattern by which the groups that are more closely related to Japan tend to have higher levels of educational attainment which then become translated into higher wages.

The Effects of Absolute and Relative Incomes on Job Satisfaction among Male Workers in Japan

Abstract Using a series of cross-sectional surveys, we investigate the sources of job satisfaction among Japanese male workers from 1955 to 1985. Our analysis focuses on income and disentangles the net effects of absolute income versus relative income during a period of high economic growth. The results indicate that both absolute income and relative income have substantial effects on job satisfaction after controlling for the respondents demographic characteristics, job position in the labor market, and year of the survey. This conclusion suggests the significance of both the traditional economic and sociological approaches to the study of well-being and job satisfaction.

Do Asian Americans Face Labor Market Discrimination? Accounting for the Cost of Living among Native-born Men and Women:

Being nonwhite, Asian Americans are an important case in understanding racial/ethnic inequality. Prior research has focused on native-born workers to reduce unobserved heterogeneity associated with immigrants. Native-born Asian American adults are concentrated, however, in areas with a high cost of living where wages tend to be higher. Regional location is thus said to inflate the wages of Asians. Given that many labor markets are national in scope with regional migration being common, current place of residence is unlikely to be a fully exogenous independent variable. We use two-stage least squares to estimate wage regression models in which the cost of living is endogenous because people with higher wages can afford to live in more expensive areas. The results fail to reject the hypothesis of no racial discrimination. Native-born Asian Americans seem to have overcome the disadvantage of being nonwhite in the labor market at least in regard to wages.

The Cost of Living and the Regional Distribution of Asian Americans

In assessing the extent to which Asian Americans are disadvantaged in the labor market, cost of living and regional distribution remain key factors that have not been directlyinvestigated in the prior research. Using data from the 2000 U.S. Census, this study finds that the majority of Asian Americans tend to reside in the Northeast and West, where the cost of living is relatively high. Using the 5-Percent Public Use Microdata Sample (PUMS) from the 2000 U.S. Census, this researchalso directly ascertains that the cost of living expense is significantly higher for Asian Americans than for non-Hispanic whites, even after controlling for demographic and class factors including education. This finding of significantly higher cost of living among Asian Americans holds even if the cost of living is examined by major Asian ethnicity. Furthermore, this study finds that 1.5 generation Asian American men do not face any wage disadvantage in the U.S. labor market net of cost of living and other factors, but a 2 percent disadvantage is evident for native born Asian American men. Findings of this research suggest that racial and ethnic discrimination in the post-Civil Rights era has been ameliorated at last for Asian Americans.