The State of Asian Pacific America

THE STATE OF ASIAN PACIFIC AMERICA THE STATE OFASIANPACIFICAMERICA: ECONOMIC DIVERSITY, ISSUES & POLICIES A Public Policy Report PAULONG Editor LEAP Asian Pacific American Public Policy Institute and UCLA Asian American Studies Center 1994 Leadership Education for Asian Pacifies (LEAP), 327 East Second Street, Suite 226, Los Angeles, CA 90012-4210 UCLA Asian American Studies Center, 3230 Campbell Hall, 405 Hilgard Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90024-1546 Copyright© 1994 by LEAP Asian Pacific American Public Policy Institute and UCLA Asian American Studies Center All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. ISBN: 0-934052-23-9 Cover design: Mary Kao The State of Asian Pacific America: Economic Diversity, Issues & Policies Paul Ong, Editor Table of Contents Preface vii Don T. Nakanishi and J. D. Hokoyama Chapter 1 Asian Pacific Americans and Public Policy 1 Paul Ong Part I. Overviews Chapter 2 Historical Trends 13 Don Mar and Marlene Kim Chapter3 Economic Diversity 31 Paul Ong and Suzanne J. Hee Chapter4 Workforce Policies 57 Linda C. Wing Part II. Case Studies Chapter5 Life and Work in the Inner-City 87 Paul Ong and Karen Umemoto v Chapter6 Welfare and Work Among Southeast Asians 113 Paul Ong and Evelyn Blumenberg Chapter 7 Health Professionals on the Front-line 139 Paul Ong and Tania Azores Chapter 8 Scientists and Engineers 165 Paul Ong and Evelyn Blumenberg Part UI. Policy Essays Chapter9 Urban Revitalization 193 Dennis Arguelles, Chanchanit Hirunpidok, and Erich Nakano Chapter 10 Welfare and Work Policies 215 Joel F. Handler and Paul Ong Chapter 11 Health Care Reform 233 Geraldine V. Padilla and Bonnie Faherty Chapter 12 High-Technology Policies 253 Sheridan M. Tatsuno Chapter 13 Diversity Within a Common Agenda 271 Paul Ong and Karen Umemoto References 277 Contributors 303 vi Preface With this publication, our two institutions-Leadership Edu cation for Asian Pacifies (LEAP) and the UCLA Asian American Studies Center continue a partnership which has led to the es tablishment of the nation's first Asian Pacific American public policy institute. We hope this policy report, like others we have already released and those we will publish in the future, will serve to inform public discussions and shape public policy delibera tions about the most important and compelling policy issue areas facing the nation's rapidly growing and diverse Asian Pa cific American population. There is no question that economic issues are of immense interest and concern to all Americans. There has been substantial debate and speculation about the health and recovery of the American economy from various vantage points, be it from Wash ington, Wall Street, or South Central Los Angeles. Public opinion polls in recent years have shown that the economy is the number one concern of the majority of Americans. Indeed, the 1992 presi dential campaign, which had been forecast to be a referendum on George Bush's first-term performance in the diplomatic and mili tary arenas, became dominated by domestic economic issues like creating more jobs, reducing the federal budget deficit, and revitalizating urban cores. This report on Asian Pacific Americans and the American economy is intended to respond to the compelling public interest on economic policy issues. Asian Pacific Americans, who now number 7.2 million nationally and are expected to grow to 20 million by 2020, have been and will continue to be important con tributors to - and beneficiaries of - many different sectors of our nation's economic structure from their high visibility in ad vanced technology industries to their relative invisibility among the ranks of the working poor and unemployed. Asian Pacific Americans are an extremely diverse popula tion, and their roles in the American economy are also diverse and multifaceted. As Ong and Hee note in one of the chapters in this book, "It is impossible to distill the economic status of Asian Pacific Americans into a single statistic." Unfortunately, that hap pens all too often, particularly when unwarranted and simplistic conclusions are drawn from a few census indicators to label Asian Pacific Americans, in monolithic terms, as a successful or model minority group. vii This report seeks to go beyond these catchy one-liners, and to provide the most comprehensive and up-to-date empirical and policy-oriented analysis of the impact, contributions, and status of Asian Pacific Americans and the changing American economy. It does this through the first-ever, in-depth examination of the growing presence and participation of Asian Pacific Americans in four major areas of the nation's economic structure-high tech nology, health and medical services, inner-city communities, and social welfare. This empirical analysis, which is based on a rigor ous examination of 1990 Census and other economic data, pro vides information on Asian Pacific Americans on a national scale, as well as in relation to the three major urban concentrations in Los Angeles, San Francisco, and New York. The latter represent the top three Asian Pacific American communities in the country, and account for nearly 60 percent of all Asian Pacific Americans. However, aside from providing accurate and full empirical findings and information, this report seeks to enhance understand ing of how Asian Pacific Americans draw linkages between the realities of their own situation and the intense and varied levels of policy debate that are occurring around economic issues, be they unemployment, urban revitalization, or technological inno vations. Their economic policy concerns are oftentimes over looked, distorted, or delegitimized by the highly influential ste reotype of Asian Pacific American success. This report provides important alternative policy-oriented perspectives on the major economic issues and concerns of Asian Pacific Americans by lead ing policy specialists. Like our other joint policy research activities and publica tions, this publication reflects the special strengths and goals of our two institutions. The UCLA Asian American Studies Center, established in 1969, is one of four ethnic studies centers at UCLA, and one of the nation's oldest programs in Asian American Stud ies. Through its research, teaching, publishing, and public edu cational activities in fields ranging from literature to urban plan ning, the faculty, staff, and students of the Center have sought to advance scholarly and policy understanding of Asian Pacific Americans. LEAP is a nonprofit organization founded in 1982 to develop, strengthen, and expand the leadership roles played by Asian Pa cific Americans within their own communities as well as in main stream institutions. LEAP's mission is to achieve full participa tion through leadership, empowerment and policy, which is be- viii ing realized through the creation of the innovative Leadership Management Institute (LMI), the newly established Community Development Institute (CDI), and the nationally recognized Asian Pacific American Public Policy Institute (APA• PPI). We would like to pay special tribute to Professor Paul Ong of the UCLA Graduate School of Architecture and Urban Plan ning for serving as the principal investigator of this major policy report, and for coordinating the empirical studies and policy es says that comprise this work. We are also grateful to the mem bers of the advisory committee, whose expertise and guidance have been invaluable: Barry Bluestone, John McCormack Insti tute of Public Affairs, University of Massachusetts, Boston; Heidi Hartmann, Institute for Women's Policy Research, Washington, D.C.; Rebecca Morales, Center for Politics and Economics, Claremont Graduate School; and Gary Orfield, Graduate School of Education, Harvard University. We also would like to express our gratitude to the Board of Directors of LEAP and the Faculty Advisory Committee of the UCLA Asian American Studies Cen ter for their continued support of our joint policy research center. Finally, we would like to acknowledge the generous support of The Ford Foundation, which provided the major funding for this study. We also wish to acknowledge The James Irvine Foun dation and The Carnegie Corporation of New York, who are ma jor sponsors of the Public Policy Institute. Additional support has been provided by The GTE Foundation, The ARCO Founda tion, AT & T, Kaiser Permanente, The Equitable Foundation, Time Warner, Inc., Pacific Bell, and the William Penn Foundation as well as from the following units at UCLA: the Institute of Indus trial Relations, Graduate Division, Academic Senate, and the Ur ban Planning Program. Professor Paul Ong, in closing, would like to thank several individuals who provided invaluable sup port: Don Nakanishi, Tim Dong, J.D. Hokoyama, John Tateishi, Graham Finney, Glenn Omatsu, Grace Hong, Russell C. Leong, Mary Kao, Phil Okamoto, Karen Umemoto, Linda Akutagawa, Suzanne J. Hee, and Gena A. Lew. J.D. Hokoyama President and Executive Director Leadership Education for Asian Pacifies Don T. Nakanishi Director UCLA Asian American Studies Center ix Chapter 1 Asian Pacific Americans and Public Policy PaulOng Economic changes over the last two decades have not been kind to the United States. Fluctuations in energy prices, growing international competition, and stagnant productivity have led to a restructuring that has displaced an enormous number of workers and has undermined economic growth that had previously raised the standard of living for each successive generation. The challenge facing us today is to

Load more