A Cohort Analysis of Korean Immigrants Class Backgrounds and Socioeconomic Status in the United States

Abstract

Class backgrounds of Korean immigrants have changed during the last three decades, partly because of changes in U.S. immigration policy and partly because of changes in the economic conditions of South Koreans. The number of Korean immigrants from lower-class backgrounds has gradually increased since 1976, when the U.S. immigration policy placed a grater emphasis on family unification and the widening income inequality in South Korea made emigration to the United States more attractive to less fortunate Koreans. Partly because of the less selective class backgrounds among the post-1976 immigrant cohort, this cohort has achieved lower socioeconomic status in the United States than the pre-1976 cohort, even when we control for the length of residence in the United States. The cohort analysis shows that the Korean immigrant community is increasingly heterogeneous in terms of age, occupation, and class position.