Asian Americans & Asset Building Trends in Illinois

Last month I participated on a webinar hosted by the UCLA Asian American Studies Center and PolicyLink on the the racial wealth gap and Asian Americans. The webinar included findings from their recent report on the Asian American population and asset building trends in Illinois which shows that that the racial wealth gap exists for Asian Americans in a different way than is typically seen for other groups like African Americans or Hispanics. See below for their full Narrative & Technical Reports.

Examining the Asian American population in Illinois, the reports found:

• Population: Asian Americans are the fastest growing ethnic group – expanding by 42% between 2000 to 2010 from 482,000 to 683,000
• Nativity: 68% of Asians in Illinois are foreign-born
• Language: A third of Asian Americans in the state have Limited English Proficiency (LEP) which is 3 times higher than the total population.
• Education: Asian Americans were more likely than any other major racial or ethnic group to earn a high school diploma, Bachelor’s degree, or a graduate degree.
• Income: Asian Americans had a higher median household income than other major racial and ethnic groups. However, because household size has a large impact on overall economic security and Asian American households tend to be larger, the report also looked at per capita income where they found Asian Americans earned less than Non-Hispanic Whites.
• Poverty: The poverty rate for Asian Americans was generally lower than the total population
• Social Security & Retirement: Given some of the language barriers and high percentage of foreign-born individuals, Asian Americans had lower proportions of households with Social Security or retirement income when compared with other major racial and ethnic groups.
• Housing: While Asian Americans had lower homeownership rates than Non-White Hispanics, they had higher home values. However, they had a higher housing cost burden than some other groups. This could be due to larger self-employment rates among Asian Americans, which prevents them from accessing traditional mortgage product with lower interest rates.

It’s important to note that within these numbers there is much diversity. When you look at individual indicators of the racial wealth gap, such as income or education, the difference between Non-Hispanic Whites and Asian Americans is relatively small. More significant inequality becomes present when examining Asian sub-groups. Certain sub-groups like Vietnamese, Koreans, or the fastest growing sub-groups in Illinois South Asians (Bangladeshis, Sri Lankans, and Pakistanis) experience more financial insecurity than more established sub-groups like Filipinos or Japanese who largely immigrated to the US earlier.

This speaks to the fact that the Asian American population is so diverse. Within the group there are many ethnic, cultural, language, and religious subgroups that each has their own history and unique experience in the U.S. We shared this report with the Chinese American Service League (CASL), an IABG partner. According to CASL, their experience is similar. CASL finds that many bank products are not accessible to their participants because of language barriers or lack of a sufficient credit history. Yet CASL has found that culturally many of their participants see buying a home as planting roots in a new land. It provides an important sense of belonging. Thus, they see many families put most of their income towards their home, their biggest asset, with little able to go towards their retirement.

Over the next few months, IABG will be traveling across the state hosting roundtable discussions on the racial wealth gap and how an asset building agenda can address growing inequality. We hope to engage communities more deeply in our policy agenda as we get ready for the next legislative session. If you are interested in co-hosting a discussion in your community, please contact Lucy Mullany.