By THE ASSOCIATED PRESSAUSTIN, Texas (AP) When it comes to the American dream, Chinese Americans are more likely than other ethnic groups to have gone to college, live in big cities and get jobs.
But there are a lot of differences.
They’re not native English speakers.
They speak a different language.
They are often undocumented immigrants.
And they are sometimes struggling to adjust to life in a new country.
A Chinese-American college student at the University of Texas at Austin takes part in a Chinese American Language Seminar on Aug. 16, 2019, in Austin, Texas.
Chinese immigrants are the most likely group to be employed in the U.S., according to a new study released Wednesday by the Center for Immigration Studies, a Washington, D.C.-based group that advocates for tougher immigration policies.
At the same time, many Chinese immigrants are struggling with language barriers and cultural expectations that make it difficult for them to succeed in the new country, said Peter Tse, the center’s president.
“What happens if an immigrant is here for 24 years and doesn’t know a language?” he said.
“If they have kids in a bilingual school or they speak a Chinese-language version of English to a native English speaker, they can learn English, but if they’re Chinese, they’re not likely to.”
The study found that more than 20 percent of Chinese immigrants who had been in the United States for 25 or more years were employed.
About 11 percent were self-employed and 4 percent were part-time workers, and a quarter had some college or a graduate degree.
About a quarter of the people who had lived here less than five years were also employed.
More than half of those who had worked in the past 25 years had some kind of college degree, and about a third had a master’s or doctoral degree.
There are more Chinese Americans in the workforce than any other ethnic group, said Jason Chan, a doctoral student at Stanford University who wrote the report.
The study found Chinese immigrants make up about a quarter (23 percent) of the workforce in the country, compared with 13 percent of the U