Socioeconomic status of Indochinese refugees in the United States: progress and problems

The Social Security Administration is responsible for administering assistance programs not only to needy citizens but also to lawfully admitted aliens who require such aid. It therefore is interested in the economic situation of all the Nation's inhabitants, including refugees. This article examines the status of one such group--the Indochinese refugees who came to this country following the fall of the South Vietnamese government in 1975. A series of sample surveys, commissioned by the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, reveals that most members of the original group of 130,000 Indochinese had achieved a large measure of economic self-sufficiency by the end of 1978. In the fall of that year, however, a new wave of Indochinese refugees began emigrating to the United States. The latecomers--who now outnumber the original group--are generally poorer, less well educated, and less acclimated to urban living than were their predecessors. Such characteristics suggest higher future resettlement costs, which could well be exacerbated by the propensity of ethnic groups to cluster in a few areas.