Submitted By: Don P Wright Webmaster Of Footprints
The Associated Press San Francisco - Spurred by the state's high tech boom, Californians of Indian descent have become the fastest growing group within the state's fastest growing race. Meanwhile, the number of residents of Japanese origin declined during the 1990s, according to new census data. The explosive growth in California's Asian population has masked vast differences between the people making up that group. Those differences came into sharper focus as the Census Bureau released more detailed data this week. At one extreme, professional Asians are earning more than their counterparts from any other race. Meanwhile, however, though refugees from Southeast Asia continued to grow in number their economic progress continues to lag. Overall, the state's population rose 14 percent in the 1990s, with those identifying as at least part Asian jumped 61 percent. While California has long been home to Asians from Pacific Rim countries, the 1990s saw a slight shift in that historical pattern. The number Japanese Americans fell 8 percent to 289,000 during the 1990s. Meanwhile, pacing the population surge were residents of Indian descent, who immigrated in such high numbers that their statewide population rose 97 percent to 315,000 people - or just under 1 percent of California's population. San Jose, now the city with the second largest Indian population in the U.S., has more Indians than 37 states. Thanks to its burgeoning high-tech job base, it topped Los Angeles as the California city with the largest Indian population. That was typical of a national trend. Other areas where the Indian population more than doubled were technology business hubs such as Fairfax County, VA. And Middlesex County, Mass. In King County, Wash., home of Microsoft Corp., the Indian population more than tripled to 15,800 people. One clear reason for the increase are the high-tech work papers called H-1B visas which the U.S. parceled out increasingly during th elate 1990s. In 1989, Indian nationals received 2,100 such visas - in 1999, that number was 55,000, according to a Georgetown University analysis of federal data. Though federal immigration officials can't say where those workers end up, the growth of Indians in cities such as San Jose, Fremont and Sunnyvale is a telling clue. The temptation of technology has even drawn Indians from within California. Surprisingly, the county with the greatest percentage of Indians in not in - or even very near - Silicon Valley. It's Sutter County, north of Sacramento, where 9 percent of the county's 79,000 people are of Indian descent. The following is a look at the total populations of the nation's seven major Asian groups in California. The first column is the major Asian group; the second column is the population in the state in 2000; the third column is the percentage change [increase] from the 1990 population. Asian Indian 314,819 97% Vietnamese 447,032 60% Other Asian 401,606 41% Chinese 980,642 39% Korean 345,882 33% Filipino 918,678 26% Japanese 288,854 -8% (negative) Source: Census 2000 Special Note: It should be noted that the above article is speaking of the Asian population. The highest growing rate in California is from Mexico. Both the legal and illegal Mexican immigrants surpass the Asian population by millions. Please place in the Subject Line: WEBPAGE-HISTORY 
|