ABSTRACT
Asian Americans are one of the fastest-growing ethnic populations in the United States. The Census reports 11.9 million Asian Americans1 in 2000 or 4.2 percent of the US population. This represents a growth rate of 72 percent since 1990 (US Census, 2002), and growth is expected to continue. Asian Americans comprise a particularly interesting group in which to examine racial economic disparities because, as Chapter 1 showed, some measures indicate that they out-perform their white counterparts. But does this mean that Asian Americans have attained equivalent (or even greater) economic achievements as whites? This chapter reviews the economic status of Asian Americans and surveys the existing research on this subject.
