Asian Indians as a Minority in the United States: The Effect of Education, Occupations and Gender on Income

Abstract

Are Asian Indians another “model minority” to the American mainstream? Multivariate analysis reveals Asian Indian income is a reflection of an unusual concentration of recent immigrants in professional and managerial occupations, an unusually high percentage of both men and women with education into college and beyond, but also, relative to U.S. whites, lower rates of return on years of education and occupational concentration. In addition, there are very strong gender effects even when the other factors are controlled, indicating direct gender pay differences.