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Posted on: January 30, 2017 at 12:08:28 CT

http://www.nytimes.com/1994/05/19/us/southeast-asians-highly-dependent-on-welfare-in-us.html

Nearly 20 years after the end of the war in Southeast Asia brought thousands of Cambodians, Laotians and Vietnamese refugees to this country, many still languish in poverty, giving Southeast Asians the highest rate of welfare dependency of any racial or ethnic group.

More than 30 percent of all Southeast Asian households in the nation now depend on welfare for survival, according to a report on the economic diversity of Asian-Americans released Wednesday in Washington. Among some groups, like Cambodians and Laotians in California, the percentage of those on welfare reaches 77 percent. Nationwide, only 8 percent of households received public assistance in 1991.

Still, Southeast Asians account for a small fraction of the welfare budget. Of the one million here, about 300,000 receive public aid, making up about 2 percent of the total welfare population.

In addition to highlighting the poverty of Southeast Asians here, the report seeks to add depth to the nation's often two-dimensional picture of Asian-Americans, who are the fastest-growing segment of the population. Their numbers have risen from 1.4 million in 1960 to more than 7 million in 1990, or 3 percent of nation's total.

The report, based on variety of sources like the Census Bureau, the Immigration and Naturalization Service and state governments, was prepared by the Asian Pacific American Public Policy Institute, based in Los Angeles, and the Asian American Studies Center at the University of California in Los Angeles.

The success of Asian-American entrepreneurs and professionals has fostered an image of a "model minority" -- ostensibly more affluent, stable and highly educated.

Indeed, the report showed, the stereotype is true in many respects. Asian-Americans have the lowest divorce rate of any racial group (3 percent), the lowest rate of teen-age pregnancy (6 percent), the highest median family income ($35,900) and the lowest rate of unemployment (3.5 percent). The number of Asian-owned businesses skyrocketed by nearly 1,000 percent from 1972 to 1987.

But, the authors argued, those figures mask the group's economic problems. For example, many of the Asian-owned businesses suffer high turnover and low profits, and the per capita income of Asian-Americans, $10,500 in 1990, is lower than that of non-Hispanic whites, $12,000.

Paul M. Ong, a professor of architecture and urban planning at U.C.L.A. and co-author of the study, said the stereotype of the "model minority" and public ignorance of the diversity of Asian-Americans had prevented the group from being adequately considered in national policy debates on issues like poverty, economic development and health care. 'Complex Population'

"It's been a problem in that people say, 'Asian-Americans, they don't have any problems,' " Dr. Ong said. "What we're trying to do is educate people so they know there is more to it than just median income. This is a very complex population."

The public policy institute that cosponsored the study is affiliated with Leadership Education for Asian Pacifics, a nonprofit organization created to expand the leadership roles of Asian-Americans.

Asian-America has become a world of striking contrasts, the report said. For every Asian-American family with an annual income of $75,000 or more, there was roughly another making less than $10,000 a year. While more than a third of all Asian-Americans have at least a college degree, another 23 percent of those older than 25 had less than a high school diploma. For every Asian-American scientist or engineer, there was another making minimum wage.

The bustling atmosphere of neighborhoods like Chinatown in Manhattan belie the harsh reality that many businesses in these areas pay low wages and provide no health care benefits. The unemployment rate in Chinatown was 6 percent in 1990, but a quarter of all families were nevertheless living below the poverty level.

Asian-American professionals have become significant members of fields like medicine and engineering. Yet they have also been frustrated by a "glass ceiling," an inability to advance into management positions because of discrimination or language and cultural barriers, the report said. Few in Management

A study of three major public hospitals in Los Angeles revealed that while Asian-Americans made up 34 percent of all doctors and nurses, they filled only 12 percent of management positions.

The institute says the "model minority" image also obscures the economic diversity within Asian-America. For example, 47 percent of Asian Indians hold professional or managerial jobs, while 22 percent of Korean-Americans do. (This compares with 24 percent for whites.)

The report found the severest economic difficulties among Southeast Asians, a finding that will not surprise social workers or advocacy groups.

Dr. Ong said the Southeast Asians' prolonged and pervasive reliance on government assistance provides a grim lesson in the failure of current welfare programs that stress cash over long-term job training.

"The country has not dealt very well with those on the margins," he said. "It's a tragedy and it affects us all."

The flow of refugees from Southeast Asia began in 1975 after the end of the Vietnam War. The influx was originally seen as temporary, but the flow continues today as new political upheavals and natural disasters draw more refugees to this country. Trauma of War

The first large group of refugees that came between 1975 and 1978 was almost entirely Vietnamese. Many had advanced educations and job skills and assimilated with relative ease.

But many of the refugees in later migrations came from rural areas with few skills to survive in the United States. In general, the study says, this group, which included Cambodians, ethnic Chinese from Vietnam and Laotians, spent longer periods detained in refugee camps in Thailand and elsewhere, further burdening their adjustment to America.

Their transition has been made all the more difficult by their war experiences, by the traumatic journey to America and by welfare programs that do not account for their special needs, the study said.

Today, three-quarters of all Southeast Asian adults on welfare in California have less than a high school education and limited proficiency in English. Forty percent of the nation's Southeast Asians live in California, and the welfare rate is substantially higher there than in other states, partly because of California's less restrictive treatment of two-parent households.

The lack of skills, low pay and lack of health benefits in the jobs available to them have kept the Southeast Asians trapped on welfare, the study says. Possibly more than a quarter of Southeast Asians will remain on public assistance after more than a decade in this country, Dr. Ong said.

He also noted that many welfare programs have been designed for people with different needs. For example, nearly 90 percent of Southeast Asian families on welfare have both parents present, making them ineligible for some programs that are meant to help the more traditional welfare population of single-parent families and families headed by teen-agers.

Changing welfare programs to place greater emphasis on job training would help Southeast Asians free themselves from public assistance, Dr. Ong said.

"This population is now so enmeshed within the public assistance system that their well-being is and will be determined by this system and future reform," the report says.