Third in a series on the community.
By Deepak Chitnis
WASHINGTON, DC: This is the third installment in our ongoing series on immigration figures pertaining to the Indian American community.
The number of Indians immigrating to the US has increased tremendously over the past several years. With IT companies needing large numbers of skilled technical workers, and opportunities in fields from medicine to business multiplying annually, the US has become the destination of choice for young Indians looking to make the most of life. The looming immigration reform bill currently being fought over in Congress may have a huge effect on India-to-US immigration, if the provisions regarding higher fees for H-1B visa applicants and Green Cards come to fruition.
The following are some statistics and figures regarding Indian-Americans in the US workforce. (All data come from MigrationInformation.org and the US Census Bureau):
53% — the percentage of Indian immigrants to the US that are male, as of 2011, higher than the 47% that are female.
71% — the percentage of Indian-Americans that reported, as of 2011, having strong English-language skills. The number breaks down as 63% saying they speak English “very well” and 9% saying they speak “only English.”
27% — the percentage of Indian-Americans, as of 2011, that are Limited English Proficient (LEP), meaning they reported their English-speaking skills as “well,” “not well,” or they don’t speak English at all. The percentage breakdown is 18%, 6%, and 3%, respectively.
51% — the percentage of total immigrants in the US who are LEP, almost double the number of LEPs that are just Indian-American. This makes Indian immigrants one of the most English-proficient minorities in the country.
75% — the percentage of Indian-born adults (aged 25 or over), as of 2011, that had at least a bachelor’s degree; this is significantly higher than the just 27% of overall immigrant adults.
8.0% — the number of Indian-born adults, as of 2011, with education no higher than high school or a GED, which is still lower than the 11% of all native US-born adults and the 31% of all immigrant adults.
44.8% — the percentage of Indian-born immigrants, both male and female and at or above the age of 16, who work in IT.
40.6% — the percentage of Indian-born immigrants, both male and female and at or above the age of 16, who work in business, finance, or management.
25.2% — the percentage of Indian-born immigrants, both male and female and at or above the age of 16, who work in the medical field in some capacity (the survey defines this as including physicians, surgeons, dentists, podiatrists, registered nurses, other healthcare practitioners, or healthcare support).
14.8% — the percentage of Indian-born immigrants, both male and female and at or above the age of 16, who work in engineering or some type of hard science.
1.132 million – the number of Indian-born Americans in the workforce, between the ages of 16 and 64, as of 2011; 717,000 are male and 415,000 are female.Top of Form
To contact the author, email to deepakchitnis@americanbazaaronline.com