The Economic Reality of The Asian American Pacific Islander Community Is Marked by Diversity and Inequality, Not Universal Success
by Prosperity Now, in partnership with National CAPACD

November 2020

By most measures of economic success—whether it be income, education, wealth or employment—Asian Americans are doing well in the United States, both when compared to other communities of color as well to White households. But while these measures of success are noteworthy, the way they are collected, analyzed and presented all too often masks the disparate financial situations of the dozens of ethnic subgroups categorized as “Asian American.”

In fact, despite sharing few cultural similarities, and spread out over a vast geographical area, people from all over Asia are grouped into the same racial category—often with Pacific Islanders included as well. As a result, the experiences of communities such as Native Hawaiians, Hmong, Indian, Chinese Americans and many others, are categorized together, despite different social, economic and cultural backgrounds and vastly different pathways to coming to this country (e.g. indigenous, immigrant, refugee). Today, while the Asian American category allows for political solidarity and power for many, when we examine the economic indicators for the Asian American Pacific Islander (AAPI) community more closely, it becomes clear that aggregated data does not come close to telling the full story of these diverse communities.

With this context in mind, we have worked with Prosperity Now to release a new brief, The Economic Reality of The Asian American Pacific Islander Community Is Marked by Diversity and Inequality, Not Universal Success, that explores some of the misconceptions that feed into broadly held beliefs that all members of the AAPI community are part of one large homogenous and successful group.

Read the brief here.