Revisiting the Asian second-generation advantage

Asian Americans comprise 6.4% of the US population, but account for over 20% of the country's elite Ivy League students. While researchers have studied mechanisms that promote an Asian second-generation advantage in education, including immigrant hyper-selectivity, few have examined whether this advantage extends into the labour market. Focusing on the five largest Asian groups - Chinese, Indians, Filipinos, Vietnamese, and Koreans - we revisit the thesis of Asian second-generation advantage. We argue that how we define advantage - as outcomes or mobility, in education or in occupations - matters. Our analyses reveal that all five second-generation Asian groups attain exceptional educational outcomes, but vary in intergenerational mobility. Second-generation Vietnamese exhibit the greatest intergenerational gains, followed by second-generation Chinese and Koreans; second-generation Indians and Filipinos experience none. Moreover, this advantage disappears in the labour market for all groups, except for Chinese, revealing the domain-specific nature of the Asian second-generation advantage.