 The Arab American National Museum
Survey: Arab and Jewish Americans Human Rights in the US | NJ) Arabs a portrait of success in America, U.S. Census says
Wednesday, March 9, 2005
By WAYNE PARRY
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Yosry Bekhiet is living his own American dream.
He makes a good salary as an engineer with the state Department of Transportation, enough to pay for tennis lessons for his three sons and enough to keep his wife from having to work. He just bought a spacious town house in the Robbinsville section of Mercer County's Washington Township, and his English is better than that of many of his American-born neighbors.
The Egyptian immigrant is typical of many Arab-Americans, according to a report released Tuesday from the U.S. Census Bureau that shows Americans of Arab ancestry doing very well in this country in terms of employment, income, homeownership, education and language skills.
"America has been a dream for every Arab in the Middle East, believe me," said Bekhiet, who came to the U.S. in 1987. "America is the No. 1 country in the world for us. You don't want to go to Europe; you want to be here."
The report found that nearly 1.2 million people reported having at least one parent of Arab ancestry. Among its key findings:
Arab-American men and women earn more than their counterparts in the general population. The median salary for men in 1999, the most recent statistics available, was $41,700, compared with $37,100 for American men as a whole. For women, the average salary was $31,800, compared with $27,200 for all American women.
More than half of all Arab-Americans own their own homes, and more than half are married.
About three out of every four Arab-Americans speaks English at home, or speaks English "very well."
About 42 percent of Arab-Americans worked in management or professional occupations, compared with 34 percent of all Americans. Among Egyptians, such as Bekhiet, the figure was even higher: 51 percent.
With a $72,000 salary as a principal engineer in the DOT's Division of Project Management, Bekhiet is comfortably ensconced in the upper middle class.
"It's a matter of pride to come to America and make it your home," said Aref Assaf, a Denville businessman and president of the New Jersey Chapter of the American Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee. "They bring with them their wealth - both financial and intellectual - and a desire to benefit from the freedom this country offers, and they fit in very nicely."
Assaf welcomed the Census report and its depiction of the Arab-American community.
"It's important for this message to be sent out to the larger American society that tends to stigmatize us based on the actions of a few or events thousands of miles away," he said.
To view the report in its entirety please visit http://www.census.gov/prod/2005pubs/censr-21.pdf
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