Washington: At a virtual interaction with Nasa scientists who were involved in the historic landing of Perseverance on Mars on March 3, US President Joe Biden remarked, “Indian-of-descent Americans are taking over the country. You (Swati Mohan), my Vice-President (Kamala Harris), my speech writer (Vinay Reddy).”
Biden, who was sworn in as the 46th president of the United States on January 20, is in a good place to judge that. He has created history by appointing at least 55 Indian-of-descent Americans to key positions in his administration. And of course, his vice-president, Kamala Harris, is also an American of Indian-descent. In fact, Indian-of-descent American have for some time been considered a “model minority” in the US – they are better educated, have better jobs, are wealthier than many other immigrant populations and enjoy both political and business clout.
America First Choice for Indian Immigrants
According to the Migration Policy Institute, from 1980 to 2019, the Indian immigrant population in the United States increased 13-fold. There are 2.7 million Indian immigrants residing in the United States as of 2019, and the country is the second most popular destination for Indians living abroad, after the United Arab Emirates (3.4 million).
Younger and Working
Indians living in the US are also younger than other immigrant populations and native born – the Indian median age was 40 years, compared to 46 years for all immigrants and 37 years for the native born. The advantage Indians have here: a high number of them are working-age Indians, 81 per cent of all Indian immigrants were in the 18-to-64 age-bracket versus 78 per cent of the overall foreign-born population and 59 per cent of the native-born population.
Better Educated
Indians have much higher education rates than both the US-and overall foreign-born populations. In 2019, 79 per cent of Indian immigrants aged 25 years and older had at least a bachelor's degree, compared to 33 per cent of both US-born and all immigrant adults.
Have High Employment Rate
People of Indian-descent have higher participation in the US labor force as compared to all other immigrants and the US-born population. About 72 per cent of Indian immigrants aged 16 years and older were in the civilian labor force in 2019, compared to 67 per cent of the foreign born and 62 per cent of the native born. More importantly, Indians are more likely to be employed in management, business, science, and arts occupations than the overall US- and foreign-born populations.
Have Better Paying Jobs
Indians overall have much higher incomes than the total foreign and native-born populations. In 2019, households headed by an Indian immigrant had a median income of $132,000, compared to $64,000 and $66,000 for all immigrant and US-born households, respectively. Indians form a significant chunk of IT workers across US's tech hubs. According to one report, in Silicon Valley 70 per cent of foreign workers are employed in the IT industry. In Seattle, where nearly 40 per cent of the IT workers are foreign born, more than 40 per cent are from India, the report said. China comes a distant second with 13.5 per cent.
Indian-origin CEOs
Though Indians make up 1 per cent of the population, they comprise 8 per cent of the founders of high-tech companies – and one-third technology startups of Silicon Valley. Some of the high profile CEOs of Indian origin in the US are in the technology industry – Microsoft's Satya Nadella, Alphabet's Sunder Pichai, IBM's Arvind Krishna, Adobe's Shantanu Narayen to name a few. Others like Ajaypal Singh Banga – CEO, Mastercard, or Indra Nooyi who was till recently, CEO of PepsiCo have also made their mark in other industries.
Influential Voters
Though Indian-American voters which would account for just 0.82% of the all eligible electorates in the US – a Carnegie Endowment report, says there are 1.9 million of them – they play a signifcant role in US politics. According to a report in the Los Angeles Times, Indian-Americans “have contributed more than $3 million to 2020 presidential campaigns – more than the coveted donors of Hollywood”. In the 2020 US elections, at least 21 people of Indian descent pitched in more than $100,000 to Biden's campaign coffers.
Indian voters are better educated and their significant presence in the US swing states – Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin, where the 2016 race was decided with very less margins – may have well played a critical role in sealing the 2020 race to the White House.
Indians Get Most H-1B Visas
Between fiscal 2001 and fiscal 2015, more than half (50.5%) of all H-1B visas for first-time employment were issued to Indian nationals. The share of these visas issued to workers from India far outspaced the share issued to workers from China (9.7%), the next largest origin group. In 2019, 278, 491 H-1B visa recipients were from India, according for 71.7 per cent of the total number issued.
Majority OPT Programme Beneficiaries
are Indian
College graduates from India and China accounted for the vast majority of Optional Practical Training (OPT) approvals in 2017. Nearly 70% of all OPT approvals involved graduates from these two countries, far outpacing the number from South Korea, Canada and other nations. The US' OPT program allows US colleges and university students temporary authorisation to work in the United States has surpassed the H-1B visa program as the largest source of new temporary high-skilled immigrant workers. Indian students are recipients of a large number of scholarship in the country.
