Asians have lower per capita incomes than whites. In urban hi-poverty areas, it may as low or lower than African Americans, and most cities like Los Angeles, Seattle, and Boston have census tracts that meet the common definition of a ghetto with over 40% of families living under the poverty line, when none of these cities have White neighborhoods that meet this definition..

Blacks do lag, but they are closing. The gap is nonexistent at the bachelor degree level, even though skills probably lag whites, and skill differences explain most of the difference.

The United States doesn't pay the most, but it's up there, and you can buy more with your money.

Contents
Language affects income
Net Worth $71,000 in 2000
Skills explain racial differences in income
World Income - US is #2 by purchase power

Income Spectrum

@@American Dream

Is it possible?

US News and World Report Dec 12, 1996 "I'm OK, You're Not" 63% of
those surveyed believe they have achieved or are close to achieving
the "American Dream". Nearly half believe it is possible to achieve
for most families.

@@Best Paying

HACKER - DOCTORS, LAWYERS PAID THE MOST \clip\97\18\money.txt
Business Week 7/28/97 THEM THAT'S GOT SHALL GET MONEY Who Has How
Much and Why By Andrew Hacker Scribner 254pp $25 "Physicians have
held the best-paying jobs for most of this century, Hacker notes.
Three-quarters of private practitioners net more than $100,000 a
year, and a third of all doctors make at least double that. Lawyers
are a more diverse lot, with a third making above $100,000 but 22%
earning $40,000 or less. "

@@Black

San Jose Mercury News, February 3, 1997 FOR LATINOS, ASIANS, MORE
SEGREGATION REPORT SHOWS SAN JOSE A LEADER IN THE TREND By Ken
McLaughlin Mercury News Staff Writer

Mercury News Analysis - Black income as % of white
83 San Jose
73 California
66 Georgia
66 Illinois
60 Alabama
56 Louisiana

BLACKS MAKE MORE IN WEST BLOOMFIELD NEAR DETROIT
"Racism not quite the culpret we're lead to believe" Seattle Times
6/18/97 F0703971 p. a11 Cal Thomas. Blacks in several Detroit suburbs
are doing better financially than their white counterparts: "The
statistics denote dramatic improvements in the ability of middle-class
blacks to take advantage of their opportunities" West Bloomfield
Township per-capita income = $47,981 black vs. $31,636 white.
Editorial said that black incomes were rising before affirmative
action and actually started to stagnate with the new social programs.
In November, the New York Times reported "blacks are the only group
whose inflation-adjusted median income exceeds what it was in 1989".
In 1989, black married couples earned 79 percent as much as white
married couples.

@@city

%%San Jose

\sjpay.txt - San Jose is #2 after NYC in pay

%%Seattle

11/2000
z46\clipim\2000\11\20\house90\house90.htm http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/newmoney/charts/cpsseacpsus.html
Seattle Times 90th percentile household = $126,000
10th = $16,000

11/2000
z46\clipim\2000\11\20\work90\work90.htm http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/newmoney/charts/wageranges.html
1998 dollars wages working 1,500 hours or more
1990 1998
99 $162,341 $234,479
95 $88,878 $100,691
90 $70,550 $76,577
10 $18,874 418,077
Times analysis of state wage data

@@earnings

\doc\95\10\apifact.txt
Occupation and earnings

- While API and non-Hispanic White females 25 and over with at
least a bachelor's degree who worked year-round, full-time
had similar earnings in 1993, their API male counterparts
earned about $87 for every $100 of non-Hispanic White males'
earnings.

- The median earnings of college-educated API men who worked
year-round, full-time trailed or were similar to those of
their non-Hispanic White counterparts in major occupational
categories, except for technical and related support jobs
where they surpassed the median for comparably educated
non-Hispanic White men.

- API and non-Hispanic White women with at least a bachelor's
degree who worked year-round, full-time had similar median
earnings in 1993 in most occupations, with two exceptions:
the median earnings of API women exceeded those of
non-Hispanic Whites in professional jobs but was lower in
sales positions.

@@Education compared with education,
see _education/income

@@engineer

\priv\95\18\matloff1.txt 75% of the foreign-born engineers in Silicon
Valley are Chinese to the Chinese Student Protection Act. That 75%
figure is from the 1990 Census, but it's not due to the Chinese
Protection act.

ASIAN IEEE MEMBERS TRAIL WHITES
\doc\95\06\ieeesurv.txt
"IEEE members salaries beat inflation" Electronic Engineering Times
May 15, 1995 p. 103
Survey of 4,064 working members of the IEEE engineering association
shows:

Salary
White $67,133
Black $65,000
Hispanic $62,500
Asian/PI $65,000

@@family income

Family income

ASIANS 1.5X TO HAVE 3 OR MORE EARNERS
\doc\95\10\apifact.txt
- In 1993, the median income of API families ($44,460) was
similar to that of non-Hispanic White families ($41,110).
(yeah, but it's also HIGHER)
- Both the husband and wife worked in similar proportions of
API and non-Hispanic White married-couple families in 1993
(about 60 percent). However, 1990 census data showed that
20 percent of API families compared with 13 percent of
non-Hispanic White families had three or more earners.
- In 1993, the median income of API families maintained by
women with no spouse present ($28,920) was higher than that
of comparable non-Hispanic White families ($21,650).
(hmmm, why is this??)

@@family support

\doc\95\07\cendata.txt
RACE. About 16 percent of providers were either Black or of races
other than White; these groups constituted 14 percent of the total
adult population. About 5 percent of all providers were Hispanic, the
same proportion as in the adult population.

* While the levels of annual payments were lower for Blacks and for
persons of other races ($2,100) as compared with Whites ($3,183),
their payments as a percentage of annual family income were similar: 9
percent for Blacks and 8 percent for Whites.

RACE AND HISPANIC ORIGIN

White 85%
Black 11%
Other 4%
Hispanic origin* 11%

@@household income

_household income

Spectrum
-----------------------------------------
HHI US 1990 W1.00 B-1.59 H-1.30 A1.17
HHI US 1996 W1.00 B-1.92 H-1.49 A1.16
HHI US 1980 W1.00 B-1.61 H-1.30 A1.13

Summary - Asian Americans have the highest household incomes. Broken
down by ethnicity, Japanese, Filipinos and Asian Indians come out
highest. Only Southeast Asian and Pacific Islander groups come out
much below average. Cambodians and Hmong are as bad or worse than the
African Americans, who would otherwise rank last.
http://scholar3.lib.vt.edu/VA-news/VA-Pilot/issues/1996/vp960307/9603070470.html
\clip\97\04\usfam.txt THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT DATE: Thursday, March 7,
1996 TAG: 9603070470 p. A5 SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS U.S. FAMILIES
BECOMING MORE STABLE, STUDY SAYS

Population Reference Bureau, 1996
Household income by race
1.16 $40,500 Asian American
1.00 $35,000 White, non Hispanic
-1.49 $23,400 Hispanic
-1.92 $21,000 Black

\doc\web\96\07\incpov.txt Source: US Census Bureau

Median household income 1994, 1995 and
1995 poverty rate by group
1994 1995 95 pov
Race
NHwhite 35766 36121 8.5
black 21623 22393 29.3
hisp 24085 22860 30.3(2)
asian 41629 40614 14.6
all 34076 13.8
Immigration status
native-born 13.0
for-born 22.2
naturalized 10.7
for-noncit 27.8

(2) first time Hispanic poverty is higher than black

\doc\94\19\incpov.wk1 - Income and Poverty by Race
US 1990 Median Household Income W1.00($32,960) B-1.69($19,532) H-1.44($22,886), A1.04($34,387)
US 1990 Poverty Rates W1.00(12.2%) B2.71(33.1%) H2.51(30.6%) A1.25(15.3%)

doc937\asianrnk.xls
Asian 1980 census by Rank

Median household (dollars)
$22,517 Japanese 1.40
$21,926 Filipino 1.36
$20,598 AsIndian 1.28
$20,231 Asian 1.26
$19,966 Asian/PI 1.24 1.13
$19,561 Chinese 1.21
$19,223 Pakistani 1.19
$18,145 Korean 1.13
$17,680 White 1.10 1.00
$17,168 Indonesian 1.07
$16,894 Guamanian 1.05
$16,841 US 1.04
$16,593 Hawaiian 1.03
$16,250 Tongan 1.01
$16,136 Polynesian 1.00
$16,120 Thai 1.00
$16,109 PacIsld -1.00
$15,960 Micronesian -1.01
$15,604 Melanesian -1.03
$13,848 Samoan -1.16
$13,502 Hispanic -1.19 -1.30
$12,549 Vietnamese -1.28
$12,256 Native Am -1.32
$10,943 Black -1.47 -1.61
$9,306 Cambodian -1.73
$5,277 Laotian -3.05
$4,977 Hmong -3.24

\doc\95\12\asiark90.txt
Median income, 1989 dollars
Group Income Index (1980)
Indian $44,696 1.42 (1.28)
Filipino $43,780 1.39 (1.36)
Japanese $41,626 1.32 (1.40)
Jewish(LATime)$37,000 1.18
Asian $37,007 1.18
AsianPI $36,784 1.17 (1.24)
Chinese $36,259 1.15 (1.21)
Hawaiian $34,830 1.11
PacIsl $31,980 1.02
White NonH $31,672 1.01
Thai $31,632 1.01
Melanesian $31,450 1.00
White $31,435 1.00
Guamanian $30,786 -1.02
Korean $30,184 -1.04 (1.13)
US $30,056 -1.05
OthAsian $30,010 -1.05
Vietnam $29,772 -1.06
Samoan $27,511 -1.14
Tongan $26,440 -1.19
OtherPI $25,542 -1.23
Hispanic $24,156 -1.30 (-1.19)
Laotian $23,019 -1.37
NativeAm $20,025 -1.57
Black $19,758 -1.59 (-1.47)
Cambodia $18,837 -1.67
Hmong $14,276 -2.20

Jewish from LA Times 4/13/88 poll, otherwise 1990 census

z60\clip\2002\10\jewpop.txt
Published in the Washington Times, Wednesday, October 09, 2002, A3
JEWISH POPULATION IN U.S. DECLINING
Median age up 4 years, survey finds
By Rachal Zoll - ASSOCIATED PRESS
The median household income for Jews is about $50,000, compared with
$42,000 for all U.S. households.

@@black parity

NO BLACK INCOME GAP AT BACHELOR'S LEVEL
\doc\95\02\cens301.txt
At the bachelor's degree level, there was an earnings parity between
African American and non-Hispanic White females working year-round,
full-time in most of the occupations.

\doc\94\8\blakquen.txt black income greater than white in Queens

@@black progress / decline

Sept 94 Census Statistical Brief for Congress
In 1969, black median family income was 61% of whites
In 1992, it had declined to 54 percent
Married-couple families increased from $26,100 in 1969 to
$34,200 in 1993, up 31% so gap reduced from 72% in 1969 to
80% in 1992

@@city

asian income city santa clara co
doc942\priv\scedincm.txt

d:\priv\94\20\calfcen3.txt Asian American incomes, which topped
all groups in 1980, also fell relative to white pay. By 1990,
Asian average household income was lower than that of whites, but
still close. Income has always been closely associated with
education, and the new figures bear that out. The two groups with
the highest education levels -- whites and Asians -- also had the
highest incomes.

doc\census\aincome.wk1

\doc\97\02\svwage.txt
WHITES AND MEN PAID MOST IN SILICON VALLEY, MORE THAN
ASIANS

Silicon Valley Wages by race
1980
W B H A
Men 100 86 89
Women 67 92 91

1990 W B H A
Men 100 75 86
Women 78 81 88

Santa Clara Cnty 1990 W1.00 B

Study controlled for age, education and
number of hours worked
Source: Martin Camoy professor of
economics and education, Stanford University
from table http://www.sjmercury.com/news/local/census/wkplace.htm
San Jose Mercury News 2/4/97

For all the talk about immigrants dragging down wages, the white guys
are doing just fine.

@@engineer

doc935:immgeng.xls - immigrant engineers make equal or more, >50%
asian

doc936:immig2.xls - immigrant by country, continent of origin African #1

@@intelligence - see skills

@@Language / English

Those who can speak English in the US earn more than those who don't

IMMIGRANTS EARN MORE WHEN THEY SPEAK ENGLISH

\doc\web\97\04\engpay.txt
Average earnings of immigrant men 25-64 (does not account of other
differences)
Pct of for born
Speaks english $37,694 21%

Spanish Other
Lang Orig Orig
Very well $26,155 $37,300 32%
Well $19,653 $27,681 22%
Not well $14,438 $20,683 17%
Not at all $11,316 $15,604 8%

Source: Census Bureau, Barry R. Chiswick
University of Illinois

As cited by "Langauge skills, earning power linked" Seattle Times May
24, 1997 F060597 R.A. Zaldivar, Knight-Ridder Newspapers.

@@Net worth

median net worth
$86,100 us 2001
$19,010 black 2002
$5,919 black 1989

68% us home owner rate 2003
48% black home owner rate 2003
42% black home owner rate 1990

Z75\clip\2003\10\blweal.txt
HoustonChronicle.com
Oct. 29, 2003, 10:48PM
Home ownership helps blacks close wealth gap Reuters News Service
net wealth of the typical African-American household increased
from $5,919 in 1989 to $19,010 in 2001, according to Federal Reserve
data analyzed by the Consumer Federation of America, a nonprofit
advocacy group. But black households still trailed the nationwide
median of $86,100 in 2001, the group said. rise in homeownership
..increased from 42 percent in 1990 to 48 percent in 2003 The
nationwide homeownership rate is 68 percent.

US MEDIAN NET WORTH $71,600
report: us families wealthier
Seattle Times jan 19, 2000
federal reserve report
median net worth
71,600 1998
60,900 1995
59,700 1989
average
282,500 1998
224,800 1995
236,900 1989
48.8 households own stock 1998
30 1989
families under 10k income 1900 on 1989, 1800 1995 3600 in 1998

@@per capita

While Asian median household income is the highest of any race, per
capita income is nationally about 20% less, due to larger households
and more children who are still at home. Only the Japanese and
Indo-Americans have higher per capita incomes than non-Hispanic
Whites.

Southeast Asians range from Vietnamese being as low as African African
Americans down to 1/6 national average for the Hmong. Per capita
incomes in some urban cities such as the San Francisco Bay Area and
Boston may be as low or lower than African Americans.

%%Boston

%%National

\doc\95\12\asiark90.txt
Per Capita Income
Ethnicity Income Index
Japanese $19,373 1.21
Indian $17,777 1.11
NHisp White $16,074 1.00
White $15,687 -1.02
Chinese $14,876 -1.08
US $14,143 -1.14
Total $13,806 -1.16
Asian/PI $13,638 -1.18
Filipino $13,616 -1.18
Thai $11,970 -1.34
OtherPacIsl $11,651 -1.38
Hawaiian $11,446 -1.40
Korean $11,177 -1.44
OtherAsian $11,000 -1.46
Guamanian $10,834 -1.48
PacIslander $10,342 -1.55
Melanesian $9,578 -1.68
Vietnamese $9,032 -1.78
Black $8,859 -1.81
Hispanic $8,400 -1.91
Native Am $8,328 -1.93
Samoan $7,690 -2.09
Tongan $6,144 -2.62
Laotian $5,597 -2.87
Cambodian $5,120 -3.14
Hmong $2,692 -5.97

doc922\pcincome.wk1 per capita income for Hisp and Asians often worse
than black in Sf Bay area cities

doc922\pcincome.xls - excel for printing

\doc\doc923\percapin.doc Asians lower per capita income,
Quayle/Murph, family structure, Mass, Calf

\doc\94\8\asself.txt Seattle: W20,645 A11,881 (near black)

\doc\95\06\browning.txt - Hispanics in the midwest have the lower per
capita incomes than blacks

doc\census\percap91.wk1

doc\pop\percapit.wk1 1980 Census
per capita B.50 H.58 A.97
household total B.62 A1.13 H.76
household urban B.66 A1.06 H.74
household suburb B.72 A1.13 H.81
men B60.8 A91.0 H70.5
women B87.3 A124.8 H88.4

\doc\pop\percapit.wk1,\doc\96\03\percap.prn
General Family Characteristics by Race and Neighborhood: 1980 Census

Median Per-Capita Income
Total Total Urban Suburb Rural
White $7,808 $8,212 $8,898 $6,599 <- Rural Whites bring down average
Black $4,545 $4,681 $5,639 $3,316
Asian $7,037 $6,707 $7,736 $6,426
Hisp $4,586 $4,349 $5,439 $3,830

Income Relative to Whites
Black 58% 57% 63% 50%
Asian 90% 82% 87% 97%<-Asians have lower per-capita income
Hisp 59% 53% 61% 58%
http://www.arthurhu.com/index/income.htm#skills

@@Skills / Test Scores

Arthur Hu comment - the NAEP notes a 4 year gap in the skills between
blacks and whites (and up to 2 years gap between Whites and Asians in
math) at any given grade, thus this explains the gap where black
college grads earn a levels comparable to white high school
graduates, and white dropouts earn as much as blacks who do not
finish high school. Thus the recent Census proclamation that blacks
now finish high school at the same rates as whites is not really
meaningful until their skills are also equal.

BLACKS EARN 19% LESS FOR = EDUCATION, BUT 9% MORE FOR EQUAL SKILLS

\doc\web\97\07\blakprog.txt (summary) \clip\97\20\blakprog.htm Wall
Street Journal Ed. Sept 3, 1997 The Real Story of Black Progress BY
ABIGAIL THERNSTROM And STEPHAN THERNSTRON - 1991 study of 26-33 yr
old men found blacks earned 19% less for equal education, but when
tested for equal skills in verbal and math skills, black men earned
9% more for equal skills.

RACE EARNINGS GAP EXPLAINED BY STANDARDIZED TEST SCORES "Don't Blame
Technology This Time" Bennet Harrison (benh@tiac.net) Technology
Review July 1997 p. 62 F062697. Harvard University economist Ronald
Ferguson found that racial differences in math and language skills,
as measured by standard written tests, correlate strongly with the
gap between the earnings of black and white youth.

TWO THIRDS OF MALE RACE EARNINGS GAP EXPLAINED BY AFQT TEST SCORES
\clip\96\04\skillgap.txt BusinessWeek / September 23, 1996 IS THE
RACE GAP A SKILLS GAP? Why wages of blacks are lagging In a
controversial new study in the current issue of The Journal of
Political Economy, however, Derek A. Neal of the University of
Chicago and William R. Johnson of the University of Virginia found
that measured by the Armed Forces Qualification Test, poorer skills
as reflected in the standardized test scores explained "roughly
two-thirds of the racial wage gap among young men and all of the gap
for young women"

@@Worker

Workers are getting larger share of US income!
\clip\97\18\worker\worker.txt Business Week July 28, 1997 p. 24
WORKERS GET MORE OF THE PIE That's what new tax data suggest
"Adjusted for the number of workdays in the month, the rise in
withheld tax receipts was 12.1%, vs. an anemic 1.3% rise in corporate
tax collections. Unadjusted, the rise was 17.7%, vs. 6.4%."

asian.income.world
@@world

US Labor Department, all jobs:
Average hourly pay, 1993 (latest available);

Germany: $25.71
Switzerland: $22.63
Japan: $19.01
US.: $16.73
Korea: $5.53
Mexico: $2.59

\priv\95\01\worlincm.txt - US has highest standard of living in the
world of any large power, even though it is number 7 in per capita GNP
because of competitive efficient economy with low prices, number 2
after Luxembourg in purchasing power per capita

World Bank figures:

Real GNP per capita
-------------------------
1. Luxembourg $29,510
2. United States $24,750
3. Switzerland $23,620
4. United Arab
Emirates $23,390
5. Qatar $22,910
6. Hong Kong $21,670
7. Japan $21,090
8. Germany $20,980
9. Singapore $20,470
10. Canada $20,410
--------------------------

The United States consistently has ranked among the top two on this
basis. ''Everybody loves coming to the United States because prices
are cheaper here,'' said World Bank economist Michael Ward.

\priv\95\09\worlinc.htm - writer can't believe that US has 2nd
highest standard of living after Luxembourg because of poor working
people. "Displacing Switzerland from atop the list of most-affluent
nations (and scorning Luxembourg, which doesn't count), the United
States leads the world in terms of gross domestic product per person
and what you can buy with your money. Japan was fourth; Germany was
12th."