Cohen comments on wealth inequality among Asian Americans
A recent report by the Center for American Progress highlights wealth disparity among Asian Americans. Although Asian Americans do, on average, earn more than White Americans, this trend does not hold when separated by social class. Rich Asian Americans earn more than their White American counterparts. However, poor Asian Americans earn less than their White American counterparts. Put differently, rich Asian households are 168 times richer than poor Asian households, while rich White households are 120 times richer than poor White households. Therefore, Asian Americans have greater within group wealth inequality than White Americans.
Highlighting the reason for the absence of a narrative of inequality among Asian Americans, faculty associate Philip Cohen states, "The problem is that ‘Asian American’ doesn’t hold together as a category. The group is too diverse. It doesn’t really make sense to compare recent Chinese, Korean or Pakistani immigrants who are working in tech and engineering jobs to people who came as refugees in the 1980s and their working-class descendants." Other researchers also emphasize this problem, and urge analysis of the Asian American community based on their diverse backgrounds and circumstances.