Quick Takes

Published: March 2009

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Labor Force

• In 2008:
  • Number of Asian-Americans in the labor force: 7,202,000¹
  • Percentage of labor force: 4.7%¹
  • Percentage of Asian-Americans who participated in the labor force: 67.0%¹
  • Number of Asian-Americans employed in management, professional, and related occupations: 3,332,000 (6.3% of all people employed in management, professional, and related occupations)²
• In 1996:
  • Number of Asian-Americans in the labor force: 5,701,0003
  • Percentage of labor force: 4.3% of labor force³
• Projections for 2016:
  • Number of Asian-Americans in the labor force: 8,741,0003
  • Percentage of labor force: 5.3%³
  • Increase of Asian-Americans in the labor force between 1996 and 2016: 53.3%³

Educational Achievement*

• Number of Asian-Americans getting bachelor’s degrees in 2006: 102,376 (6.9% of those getting bachelor’s).⁴
• Number of Asian-Americans getting master’s degrees in 2006: 34,029 (5.8% of those getting master’s). ⁴
• Number of Asian-Americans getting doctoral degrees in 2006: 3,257 (5.8% of those getting PhD’s).⁴

Income

• In 2007, 46.7% of Asian-Americans who worked full-time earned more than $50,000, and 25.4% had incomes of more than $75,000.⁵
• In 2007, 74.0% of Asian-American married-couple families had incomes of $50,000 or more, and 57.4% had incomes of $75,000 or more. ⁶

Buying Power

• Asian-American buying power will increase from $117 billion in 1990 to $752.3 billion in 2013, an increase of 545.9%. Asian-Americans' shares of the consumer market will be 5.4% in 2013.⁷

*Asian/Pacific Islander

SOURCES

¹ Current Population Survey, Bureau of Labor Statistics, "Table 3. Employment status of the civilian noninstitutional population by detailed age, sex, and race," Annual Averages 2008 (2009).

² Current Population Survey, Bureau of Labor Statistics, "Table 1. Employed and experienced unemployed persons by detailed occupation, sex, race, and Hispanic or Latino ethnicity," Annual Averages 2008 (2009, unpublished data).

³ Mitra Toosi, "Labor force projections to 2016: more workers in their golden years," Monthly Labor Review (November 2007).

⁴ National Center for Education Statistics, Digest of Education Statistics 2007 (2008).

⁵ U.S. Census Bureau, Annual Social and Economic Supplement, "Income tables PINC-01" (2008).

⁶ U.S. Census Bureau, Annual Social and Economic Supplement, "Income tables FNC-03" (2008).

⁷ Jeffrey M. Humphreys, "The multicultural economy 2008," Selig Center for Economic Growth, University of Georgia (2008).

UPDATED March 10, 2009