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Racial and Ethnic Diversity Goes Local: Charting Change in American Communities Over Three Decades
Racial and Ethnic Diversity Goes Local: Charting Change in American Communities Over Three Decades (PDF)
Source: Department of Sociology and Population Research Institute, The Pennsylvania State University
During the last three decades, the United States has become more racially and ethnically diverse. We examine this trend at the local level, where the consequences of increased diversity for the economy, education, and politics regularly prompt debate, if not rancor. Decennial census and ACS data spanning the 1980-2010 period allow us to determine (a) the pervasiveness of diversity across America, focusing on metropolitan, micropolitan, and rural areas and places, and (b) the community characteristics that correlate with diversity.
We nd that almost all communities—whether large immigrant gateways or small towns in the nation’s heartland—have grown more diverse. However, the data show a wide range of diversity pro les, from predominantly white communities (a shrinking number) to minority-majority and no-majority ones (an increasing number). The pace of local diversity gains, as well as shifts in racial-ethnic composition, has similarly varied.
While surging Hispanic and Asian populations often drive these patterns, other groups, including African immigrants, Native Americans, and multi-racial individuals, contribute to the distinctive mixes evident from one community to the next.
As for the correlates of diversity, communities with large populations, abundant rental housing, and a range of jobs are more diverse. So are those where the government and/or the military is a key employer. Locationally, diversity tends to be higher in coastal regions and along the southern border.
In short, a growing number of Americans now live in communities where multiple groups—Hispanics, blacks, and Asians as well as whites—are present in signi cant proportions.
The Rise of Asian-Americans
Source: Pew Social & Demographic Trends
Asian Americans are the highest-income, best-educated and fastest- growing race group in the U.S, with Asians now making up the largest share of recent immigrants. A Pew Research survey finds Asian Americans are more satisfied than the general public with their lives, finances and the direction of the country, and they place a greater value on marriage, parenthood, hard work and career success.
Trends in Tuberculosis — United States, 2011
Trends in Tuberculosis — United States, 2011
Source: Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (CDC)
In 2011, a total of 10,521 new tuberculosis (TB) cases were reported in the United States, an incidence of 3.4 cases per 100,000 population, which is 6.4% lower than the rate in 2010. This is the lowest rate recorded since national reporting began in 1953 (1). The percentage decline is greater than the average 3.8% decline per year observed from 2000 to 2008 but not as large as the record decline of 11.4% from 2008 to 2009 (2). This report summarizes 2011 TB surveillance data reported to CDC’s National Tuberculosis Surveillance System. Although TB cases and rates decreased among foreign-born and U.S.-born persons, foreign-born persons and racial/ethnic minorities continue to be affected disproportionately. The rate of incident TB cases (representing new infection and reactivation of latent infection) among foreign-born persons in the United States was 12 times greater than among U.S.-born persons. For the first time since the current reporting system began in 1993, non-Hispanic Asians surpassed persons of Hispanic ethnicity as the largest racial/ethnic group among TB patients in 2011. Compared with non-Hispanic whites, the TB rate among non-Hispanic Asians was 25 times greater, and rates among non-Hispanic blacks and Hispanics were eight and seven times greater, respectively. Among U.S.-born racial and ethnic groups, the greatest racial disparity in TB rates occurred among non-Hispanic blacks, whose rate was six times the rate for non-Hispanic whites. The need for continued awareness and surveillance of TB persists despite the continued decline in U.S. TB cases and rates. Initiatives to improve awareness, testing, and treatment of latent infection and TB disease in minorities and foreign-born populations might facilitate progress toward the elimination of TB in the United States.
Unemployment Rate Does Not Tell the Full Story: Long-term Hardship a Tremendous Burden on Millions of Workers and the Economy
Unemployment Rate Does Not Tell the Full Story: Long-term Hardship a Tremendous Burden on Millions of Workers and the Economy
Source: Center for Economic and Policy Research
Overall unemployment has ticked down slightly from the peaks of the recession, but long-term unemployment remains historically high, threatening the long-term economic security of workers and the country as a whole. A new report from the Center for Economic and Policy Research sheds light on the demographics of the millions of workers struggling with unemployment and under-employment.
“Long-term Hardship in the Labor Market” breaks out workers considered long-term unemployed by the official BLS standard according to race and gender, education, and age. The authors also expand the conventional concept of long-term unemployment and capture further dimensions of long-term hardship including discouraged workers, workers marginally attached to the workforce, and workers who are part-time for economic reasons.
The report shows that under the standard measure of long-term unemployment, half of all unemployed black men have been jobless for more six months or longer, followed closely by roughly 49 percent of unemployed Asian men, black women and Asian women. However, the alternative measure shows that black men are much more likely than other workers to experience long-term hardship. About 9 percent of all black men in the labor force, compared with 7 percent of black women, 5 percent of Latino women and 4 percent of Latino men had been unemployed for six months or longer in 2011.
The Rise of Intermarriage
The Rise of Intermarriage
Source: Pew Social & Demographic Trends Project
This report analyzes the demographic and economic characteristics of newlyweds who marry spouses of a different race or ethnicity, and compares the traits of those who “marry out” with those who “marry in.” The newlywed pairs are grouped by the race and ethnicity of the husband and wife, and are compared in terms of earnings, education, age of spouse, region of residence and other characteristics. This report is primarily based on the Pew Research Center’s analysis of data from the U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey (ACS) in 2008-2010 and on findings from three of the Center’s own nationwide telephone surveys that explore public attitudes toward intermarriage.
Migration in the Modern Chinese World
As the Chinese world prepares for the Chinese New Year on January 23, the Migration Information Source is launching a new Special Issue focusing on migration in the modern Chinese world. During the month of January, the Source will publish eight articles focusing on migration developments regarding China, Taiwan, and overseas Chinese…
Chinese Immigrants in the United States
Chinese Immigrants in the United States
Although narratives describing the first waves of immigration to the United States often focus on European newcomers, Chinese migrants drawn by the economic boom associated with the 1849 California Gold Rush were also among the country’s early immigrants. The Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, however, banned most Chinese immigration to the country, and legal opportunities for Chinese migration to the United States did not expand significantly until the reform of the US immigration system in 1965.The number of Chinese immigrants in the United States has grown each decade since 1960, when the population stood at just under 100,000, to reach 1.8 million in 2010. The Chinese born represented the second-largest immigrant group in the country (after the foreign born from Mexico) in 2010, and accounted for 4.5 percent of the total foreign-born population.Compared to the foreign born overall, Chinese immigrants in 2010 reported higher levels of educational attainment, were less likely to live in households with an annual income below the poverty line, and were substantially more likely to have naturalized as US citizens. Yet, Chinese immigrants were also more likely to have limited English proficiency than the foreign born overall, and immigrant men born in China exhibited lower rates of labor force participation than immigrant men overall.
Tiger Cub Strikes Back: Memoirs of an Ex-Child Prodigy About Parenting and Legal Education
I am a Chinese American who at age 14 enrolled at Princeton and at age 17 began my applied mathematics Ph.D. at Harvard. I was a 1L at the University of Chicago before transferring to Stanford, preferring the latter’s pedagogical culture. This Essay reflects upon Professor Amy Chua’s memoir about being a tiger parent by offering a complementary personal memoir about growing up as a tiger cub. In so doing, this Essay examines some of the pros and cons of tiger parenting. This Essay discusses how mainstream legal education and tiger parenting are similar. This Essay advances three central proposals to improve legal education and parenting. First, this Essay suggests that a central goal of legal pedagogy and parenting should be to develop and improve Judgment and Decision Making (JDM) skills because they are crucial to achieving career and life satisfaction. In particular, tiger parenting and traditional doctrinal law school classes spend much time on developing what are known as system two JDM skills and spend little time on improving what are known as system one JDM skills. System two reasoning is analytical, cognitive, conscious, controlled, deliberative, effortful, logical, rule-based, and slow; while system one is affective, associative, automatic, fast, habitual, heuristic-based, holistic, intuitive, and unconscious. Second, this Essay advocates that law professors can reform legal education and parents can improve how they raise their kids by teaching more about emotions and emotional intelligence. Third, this Essay proposes that education about character, ethics, professionalism, values, and virtues is crucial to achieving lasting career satisfaction and sustainable personal happiness Because I did not receive tenure at the University of Pennsylvania law school, I feel free to recount how a former associate dean there gamed the U.S. News & World Report law school rankings.
According to LEAP, Asian and Pacific Islanders Remain Absent from Foundation Boards
- There are 36 APIs that hold 37 board seats at 24 of the top 100 foundations.
- There is no API heading a foundation in the role of executive director, president and/or CEO.
- The 37 board seats represent 4.95% of the total 748 board seats in the top 100 foundations.
- The ethnic breakdown of these API board of directors is as follows: Chinese (13), Japanese (8), Asian Indian (6), Korean (3), Filipino (2), Vietnamese (2), Singaporean (1) and Thai (1).
- Twelve (33.33%) out of the 36 API directors are women.
- One API director sits on more than one foundation board: Irene Hirano Inouye.
- There are two API directors serving as chairman of the board: Tessie Guillermo (The California Endowment) and Irene Hirano Inouye (The Ford Foundation).
- Seven of the top 100 foundations have 2 or more API directors on their board: The Ford Foundation (3), The California Endowment (3), The Rockefeller Foundation (4), The Silicon Valley Community Foundation (4), The James Irvine Foundation (2), The San Francisco Foundation (2) and The Commonwealth Fund (2).
- The Rockefeller Foundation has 25% API representation on its board of trustees, the highest percentage of any foundation in the top 100.
The New Metro Minority Map: Regional Shifts in Hispanics, Asians, and Blacks from Census 2010
The New Metro Minority Map: Regional Shifts in Hispanics, Asians, and Blacks from Census 2010
Source: Brookings Institution
This paper shows how the rapid growth of Hispanic and Asian origin groups and new internal shifts of African Americans are transforming the racial and ethnic demographic profiles of America’s largest metropolitan areas ahead of other parts of the country.
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The Asian-American Labor Force in the Recovery
The Asian-American Labor Force in the Recovery
Source: U.S. Department of Labor
Asian-Americans and Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders are a growing share of the United States labor market. They are also a diverse population who identify their ethnicity as Asian Indian, Chinese, Filipino, Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese and several other ethnicities. Aggregate numbers show that the Asian-American community as a whole exhibits better labor market outcomes than other racial groups, but the aggregate measurements veil the wide variations within this highly diverse group. Numbers broken down by gender, by age and by country of origin, illustrate that there exists significant disparity within those who identify their race as Asian. These numbers demonstrate that some Asian Americans face greater challenges and therefore need more attention and assistance than the overall data suggest.
Census Bureau Reports 64 Percent Increase in Number of Children Living with a Grandparent Over Last Two Decades
Census Bureau Reports 64 Percent Increase in Number of Children Living with a Grandparent Over Last Two Decades
Source: U.S. Census Bureau
In 2009, 7.8 million children lived with at least one grandparent, a 64 percent increase since 1991 when 4.7 million children lived with a grandparent, according to a new report from the U.S. Census Bureau.
Among children living with a grandparent, 76 percent also were living with at least one parent in 2009, not statistically different from the 77 percent who lived with at least one parent in 1991.
“The people with whom children live affect their well-being,”said Rose Kreider, a family demographer with the U.S. Census Bureau. “These statistics give us a lot of detail about the number of parents children live with, as well as whether they live with siblings, grandparents or other relatives.”
These statistics released today come from the household relationship module of the Survey of Income and Program Participation collected in 2009 and published in the report Living Arrangements of Children: 2009.
In 1991, 5 percent of white, 15 percent of black and 12 percent of Hispanic children lived with at least one grandparent. By 2009, 9 percent of white, 17 percent of black and 14 percent of Hispanic children lived with at least one grandparent, a significant change for white children but not for black or Hispanic children.
Many children who do not live with a parent live with a grandparent. More than half of the children living with no parents were living with grandparents. Percentages for black children (64 percent) and non-Hispanic white children (55 percent) did not differ from Hispanic children (61 percent), but the percentage of Asian children living with no parents who lived with grandparents was lower, at 35 percent.
In 2009, 69 percent of the 74.1 million children under 18 lived with two parents. Four percent (2.9 million) of all children lived with both a mother and father who were not married to each other.
Between 1991 and 2009, children living with only their mother increased from 21 percent to 24 percent.
The percentage of children living with their mother without a father present varied widely among race and origin groups in 2009, from 8 percent for Asian children to 50 percent for black children. Seventeen percent of non-Hispanic white children and 26 percent of Hispanic children also lived with their mother only.
The Early Decision Option in College Admission and its Impact on Student Diversity
The Early Decision Option in College Admission and its Impact on Student Diversity
Source: Social Science Research Network (Journal of Law and Economics, Forthcoming)
Colleges and universities that adopt early decision (ED) as an admission practice are able to generate additional resources by attracting wealthier students who, upon admission, make binding commitments to attend and to forgo shopping for competing aid offers. An unanswered question is whether the resources generated from price discrimination are used by schools during the regular admission process to attract more diverse students. Using a sample of private national universities and liberal arts colleges, we model the choice to adopt an ED program and its impact on student racial and geographic diversity. We find that schools that face more competition for students are more likely to adopt ED. Overall heterogeneity of the students is lower for schools that adopt ED and heterogeneity falls as schools enroll larger percentages through ED. Higher ED enrollment percentages appear to strongly and negatively affect Asian American and Hispanic students and positively affect white students.
Toward Green Nail Salons
Toward Green Nail Salons
Source: White House (Initiative on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders)
Workers shouldn’t have to sacrifice their health for the beauty of others. That’s why the White House Initiative on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders is taking a hard look at how we can protect the health of nail salon workers. And it’s not just about health. It’s about worker safety and economic growth and civil rights. It’s a multi-faceted issue that requires a multi-agency approach.
Our interageny team is comprised of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the Department of Labor (DOL), the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), and the Small Business Administration (SBA), and we’ve hit the ground running.
EPA is launching a “Train the Trainer” workshop series for nail salon workers. The workshops will teach nail salon owners and workers about health risks, safety measures, and greening techniques.
DHS is working on a smartphone that can “sniff” chemical levels in the air and collect health data from workers. This device has the potential to link chemical exposure to health symptoms in nail salons and provide much needed data to help inform agency standards and regulations.
SBA is assessing its programs to determine how to incentivize green nail salons and how to best assist nail salon owners with growing their businesses. Similarly, DOL and HHS are examining their outreach strategies and regulatory scope of the nail salon industry to see where they can help.
See also: Team Effort on the Nail Salon Project (EPA)
Surveillance of Health Status in Minority Communities — Racial and Ethnic Approaches to Community Health Across the U.S. (REACH U.S.) Risk Factor Survey, United States, 2009
Surveillance of Health Status in Minority Communities — Racial and Ethnic Approaches to Community Health Across the U.S. (REACH U.S.) Risk Factor Survey, United States, 2009
Source: Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (CDC)
Reported education level and household income were markedly lower in black, Hispanic, and AI communities than that among the general population living in the comparison MMSA, county, or state. More residents in these minority populations did not have health-care coverage and did not see a doctor because of the cost.
Substantial variations were identified in the prevalence of health-related risk factors among minority populations and among communities within the same racial/ethnic population. In 2009, the median prevalence of obesity among Asian/Pacific Islander (A/PI) men and women was 10.3% (range: 4.8%–45.3%) and 6.7% (range: 4.5%–38.2%), respectively, whereas it was 46.2% (range: 39.4%–53.6%) and 45.5% (range: 35.1%–55.1%), respectively, among AI men and women. The median percentage of cigarette smoking among black (28.0% in men and 19.9% in women) and AI communities (36.1% in men and 36.0% in women) was much higher than the national median (19.6% in men and 16.8% in women) among the 50 states and the District of Columbia (DC). Among the four minority communities, blacks had the highest median percentage of persons who reported engaging in no leisure-time physical activity (28.5% in men and 31.6% in women). A much lower percentage of black women met physical activity recommendations in almost all communities compared with that in the corresponding MMSA, county, or state.
Substantial variations were identified in self-perceived health status and prevalence of selected chronic conditions among minority populations and among communities within the same racial/ethnic population. In 2009, the median percentage of men who reported fair or poor health was 15.8% (range: 8.3%–29.3%) among A/PI communities and 26.3% (range: 22.3%–30.8%) among AI communities. The median percentage of women who reported fair or poor health was 20.1% (range: 13.3%–37.2%) among A/PI communities, whereas it was 31.3% (range: 19.4%–44.2%) among Hispanic communities. AI and black communities had a high prevalence of self-reported hypertension, cardiovascular disease, and diabetes. For most communities, prevalence was much higher than that in the corresponding MMSA, county, or state in which the community was located. The median percentages of persons who knew the signs and symptoms of a heart attack and stroke were consistently lower in all four minority communities than the national median.
Variations were identified among racial/ethnic populations in the use of preventive services. Hispanics had the lowest percentages of persons who had their cholesterol checked, of those with high blood pressure who were taking antihypertensive medication, and of those with diabetes who had a glycosylated hemoglobin (HbAC) test in the past year. AIs had the lowest mammography screening rate within 2 years among women aged ≥40 years (median: 72.7%; range: 69.4%–76.2%). A/PIs had the lowest Pap smear screening rate within 3 years (median: 74.4%; range: 60.3%–80.8%). The median influenza vaccination rates in adults aged ≥65 years were much lower among black (57.3%) and Hispanic communities (63.3%) than the national median (70.1%) among the 50 states and DC. Pneumococcal vaccination rates also were lower in black (60.5%), Hispanic (58.5%), and A/PI (59.7%) communities than the national median (68.5%).
Dissecting Diversity: Understanding the Ethnic Consumer
Dissecting Diversity: Understanding the Ethnic Consumer
Source: Nielsen
From what people watch to what they buy, behavior across ethnic groups in the U.S. is as diverse as the groups themselves. A closer look at the multicultural landscape by The Nielsen Company reveals how consumers utilize the same resources differently. The findings show that African Americans are TV-centric, Hispanics are savvy smartphone users, and Asians/Pacific Islanders are heavily wired to the Internet. In retail, African Americans shop the most frequently; Hispanics shop less often but spend more than others; and Asians/Pacific Islanders take the most advantage of deals and promotions.
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Census Bureau Reports the Number of Asian-Owned Businesses Increased at More Than Twice the National Rate
Census Bureau Reports the Number of Asian-Owned Businesses Increased at More Than Twice the National Rate
Source: U.S. Census Bureau
The number of U.S. businesses owned by people of Asian origin increased 40.4 percent to 1.5 million between 2002 and 2007, increasing at more than twice the national rate, according to U.S. Census Bureau data released today. These businesses also generated $507.6 billion in receipts, a 55.4 percent increase from 2002.
“Asian-owned businesses continued to be one of the strongest segments of our nation’s economy, bringing in more than half a trillion dollars in sales in 2007 and employing more than 2.8 million people,” said Census Bureau Deputy Director Thomas Mesenbourg.
These new data come from the Survey of Business Owners: Asian-Owned Businesses: 2007. The survey provides detailed information every five years for Asian-owned businesses, including the number of firms, sales and receipts, number of paid employees and annual payroll.
The survey also presents data by geographic area (nation, state, county, city and metro area), industry and size of business. The data cover businesses owned by seven Asian groups — people of Asian Indian, Chinese, Filipino, Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese and other Asian origin. Preliminary national and state data were released in July 2010.
California had the largest number of Asian-owned businesses with 509,097, followed by New York (196,852) and Texas (114,336).
Among counties, Los Angeles had the largest number of Asian-owned businesses with 183,092, followed by Queens, N.Y. (68,606) and Orange, Calif. (63,416).
The cities with the largest number of Asian-owned businesses in 2007 were New York (153,885) and Los Angeles (61,607).
Metropolitan areas with the largest number of Asian-owned businesses were Los Angeles-Long Beach-Santa Ana, Calif. (246,429), New York-Northern New Jersey-Long Island, N.Y.-N.J.-Pa. (240,371), and San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, Calif. (89,508).
Lists & Rankings — Best Cities For Minority Entrepreneurs
Best Cities For Minority Entrepreneurs
Source: Forbes
There are essentially three ways of dealing with America’s tattered balance sheet and mounting financial obligations: curbing social services, hiking taxes and generating real, sustainable economic growth–and the first two aren’t exactly palatable.
As for growth, minority entrepreneurs are playing an increasingly important role. Just one data point: In 2010 immigrants accounted for nearly 30% of new business owners, versus 13% in 1996, according to the Kauffman Foundation.
In Atlanta, where half the residents are African American, a host of Hispanic and Asian entrepreneurs have set up shop over the last decade. Atlanta now boasts the second-highest percentage of self-employed minorities among the top 52 metropolitan areas with populations greater than 1 million.
That statistic–combined with a growing population, increasing household incomes and affordable housing–puts Atlanta atop our list of best metro areas for minority entrepreneurs, assembled with help from economist-demographer Joel Kotkin, author of The Next Hundred Million: America in 2050.
