Achievement in Income among Asian and Hispanic American Young Adults

Chunyan Song, California State University, Chico

This paper examines the income among Asian American and Hispanic young adults who received at least secondary schooling in the United States. Samples of the study are drawn from NELS:88. This study finds that eight years after high school, some groups are able to surpass whites in income while some others lag behind. Human capital investment in higher education and working experiences explain most of income differences between minority groups and whites. Second, 4-year college education generates similar economic rewards to immigrant young adults as to whites. Third, immigrant children or children of Asian immigrants who receive at least secondary schooling in the United States do not seem to suffer any disadvantage in income at a given education level. There is no obvious evidence suggesting that the quality of recent immigrants and immigrant children from Asia and Latin America is lower than that of whites.