ISAS Briefs

At first sight it may seem a bit of a stretch to link the United States Government’s shutdown with the size of the South Asian Diaspora in America. But the connection between the two becomes clear once it is noted that the right-wing of the Republican Party has taken a long step towards exhibiting its distaste for immigration. It was when the country was more receptive to receiving foreigners that the South Asians built large communities in various parts of United States. The South Asians benefitted particularly from this openness since they brought into America the skills that the “natives” did not have in the needed quantity. There are now about 6-8 million people of South Asian origin living in North America. Since most of the South Asian immigrants are highly qualified and are working in the occupations that pay well, their per capita income is 20 per cent higher than the overall American average – or US$ 60,000. The American income per head is slightly more than US$ 50,000. In other words the total South Asia Diaspora income in America is about US$ 400 billion. This is equivalent to about one-fifth of the total national income of the sub-continent. With such high incomes the Diaspora has begun to contribute significantly to the development of the countries they left behind when they moved to America.