Vietnamese Refugees and Blocked Mobility

Abstract

Recent media reports have described Vietnamese refugees as a “model minority” — a group whose cultural orientations have enabled them to overcome disadvantages and achieve economic success. This paper examines data from published sources and ethnographic studies conducted by the authors in Oakland, California and Philadelphia to assess the economic situation of Vietnamese refugees in the United States. Evidence suggests that in strong contrast to being a “success story,” the economic status of many recently arrived Vietnamese refugees is characterized by unstable, minimum-wage employment, welfare dependency and participation in the informal economy. The paper suggests that the group's economic opportunities have been limited by the configuration of circumstances that have surrounded their entry and settlement into the United States as refugees, as well as by the demographic structure of the group.