It appears that the income gap between male and female immigrants is lower than that between American-born men and women. According to a recent planning report from the City’s Department of Immigration, the average gross annual income among Americans is currently just above $60,000. American-born males in New York City average above $50,000; on the other hand, male immigrants in the city only average just above $30,000. American-born females in New York average an annual income of over $40,000, while their immigrant counterparts in the city only average over $32,000 annually. These statistics also show that the income gap between American-born men and women is $14,794 nationally and $10, 402 in New York City. The same figure for New York City area immigrants is significantly lower: $6, 767.
In the case of Korean immigrants, on the other hand, statistics show an annual gross income of $44,050 for men, and $35,505 for women – figures which are both above the city’s immigrant income average. The income gap between male and female Korean workers, at $8,549, is, however, slightly more than that of the immigrant population as a whole.
New immigrants play a crucial role in the economy of the city. Immigrants work intensively in labor jobs: 43 percent of all laborers (above 16 years of age) in New York City are immigrants. Broken down by field, we find that immigrants make up 64.4 percent of all employees in manufacture/production; 57.6 percent in construction; 54 percent in service fields; 49.2 percent of those in wholesale/retail; 48.4 percent in traffic and utilities; 40.7 percent in health, education, and welfare. On the other hand, immigrants show lower rates in fields such as IT (24.3 percent), public organizations (24.5 percent), professional skills and management (34.0 percent), and in the financial, insurance, and real estate sectors (35.1 percent).
Again, however, statistics for Korean immigrants tell a different story. Employment for Korean immigrants is 69.9 percent. Of all male employees, 68.7 percent work in small private businesses, 25.6 percent work in their own businesses, and 4.9 percent are involved in government work. Employment for Korean female immigrants is 53.5 percent: 75.9 percent of them work in small private companies, 15.1 percent work in their own businesses, and 6.8 percent work for the government.
“After the 1990s, the average annual income among immigrants dropped by $4,000, and now perhaps as many as 25 percent of immigrants live at or below the poverty line,” said The New York City Department of Planning. The drop in average income among immigrants includes Koreans, whose average earnings have also dropped below those of previous Korean immigrants.
The Department claimed that immigrants customarily have low incomes during their “period of settlement” since they are forced into low-wage labor jobs, but that they later increase their income. This occurs once immigrant groups such as Koreans and others establish themselves here over time, improve their English skills, and gradually adjust to life in America.
