Uncovering Hidden Disparities: Economic Insecurity in the Asian American Population

Background/Purpose: Asian Americans are the fastest-growing major racial group in the United States. On an aggregate level, Asian Americans have some of the highest median household incomes out of all racial groups, even surpassing the median income among white households. However, this widespread but misleading notion of prosperity overshadows a lesser-known fact: Asian Americans also have the highest income inequality out of all racial groups in the U.S. This misconception has fueled ‘model minority’ stereotypes that Asian Americans are better off financially and face fewer hardships than other racial groups.

The current study aims to uncover the state of economic insecurity among Asian Americans by 1) using both poverty and material hardship rates to form a more comprehensive approach towards understanding economic insecurity that income poverty alone cannot capture and 2) disaggregating the population by 21 Asian ethnic groups and demographic characteristics.

Methods: Data and Sample: This study utilizes the 2021 American Community Survey (ACS), a nationally representative survey that provides demographic, housing, education, labor market, and economic indicators. Unlike any other national dataset in the U.S., the ACS includes 21 Asian ethnicities.

Measures (Economic Insecurity): The current study investigates the following two economic insecurity measures: 1) SPM poverty and 2) material hardships. SPM resources and thresholds used in the current study are estimated using data from the Annual Social and Economic Supplement of the Current Population Survey. The SPM is an improved measure of poverty from the Official Poverty Measure (OPM) that accounts for government transfers, taxes, and necessary expenditures into its resource measure and incorporates cost of living adjustments and a broader unit of analysis into its threshold measure. The majority of Asian American poverty studies used the OPM, thus, the inclusion of SPM poverty will provide a more complete picture of poverty. Material hardship is measured using durable goods hardship, housing hardship, and medical hardship indicators.

To examine economic insecurity rates within the Asian American population by detailed ethnic groups, between white, Black, and Hispanic Americans, and by demographic characteristics, this study compares the composition of 1) those with income poverty only, 2) those with at least one material hardship only, and 3) those with either income poverty or material hardship(s). The third category captures the proportion of the population that is disadvantaged within each racial group. These results are then disaggregated by relevant demographic subgroups.

Results: Preliminary results reveal economic insecurity rates vary significantly between the 21 Asian ethnic groups. Mongolian, Burmese, Bangladeshi, and Malaysian Americans have the highest rates of economic insecurity among the Asian American population. Additionally, these groups are on par with rates among Black and American Indian populations.

Conclusion and Implications: This study exposes important disparities in economic insecurity within the Asian American population and challenges the precedent of studying this group using theoretical and methodological homogenous practices. The findings of this paper directly improve future research, policy development, and social service efforts to best serve the Asian American population.