亚裔美国人的收入在增长

Asians are only the minority group in the US with a median income higher than that of the majority white population. And a new study finds their wealth is on track to be tops, too. But some experts say the numbers don't tell the whole story.

Shanghai-born Vincent Wang is studying Environmental Science, while his friend Kenneth - structural Engineering. He's not surprised to hear about Asian Wealth on the rise.

"I think more Asians whether you are born here or foreign country, most Asians are pretty wealthy and have a good mindset of education," Wang said.

A new report from the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis says from 1989 to 2013, the median wealth of a White family increased from around 130-thousand dollars to 134-thousand.

For Black and Hispanic families - rises of around three and four thousand dollars respectively. But for Asian families -- a leap from about 64-thousand dollars to more than 91-thousand.

The study concludes Asian median wealth will soon surpass that of White's.

"A lot of people that have come to the U.S. in the past 10 or 15 years I think are generally on the higher education level than the rest of the U.S., they immediately will have access to higher paying jobs," said an asian woman.

"A lot of the new immigrants coming in on H1-B, they are coming in from a lot of good schools," said an asian man.

Asian American studies Professor James Lai points out that Indians and Chinese account for more than half of the H1-B highly skilled worker visas issued each year.

"Without a doubt, the gap is narrowing, but again, that gap is fueled by who we let in. And again, we have to be careful of what benchmark we use to measure the gap between whites and Asian Americans. By lumping them into one racial category, you're also going to obscure [edit] differences between the subpopulations that make- up the Asian population that are not necessarily as wealthy," Lai said.

Lai cites information from the Center for Global Policy solutions, or CGPS, which says Asian Americans own just 68-cents for every dollar of wealth a White family owns. And, only around 57-percent of Asian Americans own a home compared to nearly 74-percent of Whites. Lai also says there are difficulties getting accurate numbers.

"We know based on 2010 census data that Asian Americans are the most likely group to "out" marry among all racial groups with the exclusion of Native Americans. You may not get those individuals that are biracial who may choose to identify with the other racial group that's a part of the identity. And because of that, these numbers aren't always representative of the larger complex community," Lai said.

The CGPS also says since an estimated 47-percent of Asian American families speaking English less than "very well," language issues prevent many families from reporting on their socioeconomic experiences.