Economic Contributions of Asian Indian Minnesotans

Bruce P. Corrie, PhD corrie@csp.edu The Asian Indian population is in the range of 30,000 according to Census 2000 and have a significant impact on the Minnesota economy: An immigrant community with buying power of nearly half a billion dollars. In suburbs like Eden Prairie, Asian Indian buying power is 20 million dollars. 97 percent receive no public assistance but pay over 5 million in real estate taxes and over 2 million in rental payments. In 1997 there was an estimated 961 Asian Indian firms in Minnesota with 670 million dollars in sale employing over 6000 people. 72 percent of the Asian Indian workforce are in management and professional occupations. Among the occupations with a strong Asian Indian presence are computer and health related occupations as well as the social sciences. Asian Indians have high human capital with 74 percent having a Bachelor’s degree or higher educational qualifications. In Minnesota the Asian Indian influence cuts across many sectors as can be seen in the list below:

POLITICS

State Senator Satveer Chaudhary (DFL)

Gopal Khanna, Governor’s Cabinet (GOP)

BUSINESS/Management

Mahendra Nath, MN Business Hall of Fame

Kay Kuba, Top 100 Women owned Business

Prakash Puram, National Export Council

Frank Moneteiro, SBA Small Business Award

Rajiv Tandon, Rajeo Dhar, KC Sukumar, Daljt Sikha, Satya Garg, Bennet Cyrus, Anil Khurana, Vinod Kumar, Paul Kuttikadan, Ben Kurian , Nita Singh. Top MN Companies

Marthand Noorkala, Senior Mgmt, MnDOT

Bruce Corrie, Chair, Governors Working Group on Minority Business Dev (Ventura).

Vijay Sood, Senior VP, General Mills

Jesse Singh, Division VP, 3M

Basant Kharbanda, owner Foshay Towers

V V Chari, Advisor to Federal Reserve Bank

Aks Zaheer, Carlson School of Management

MEDIA

Fred de Sam Lazaro, NewHour Lehrer, PBS

Vineeta Sawkar, New anchor, KSTP

Neal Justin, Star Tribune and AAJA

Geeta Sitamariah, Pioneer Press

Mukthar Thakur, Sarjit Bains, Shashi Gupta, Sangam Radio and Geetmala TV

COMMUNITY

Rev. Cherian Puthiyottil, Rev. Andrade, Rev. Thoomkuzy, Rev. Thelakatt, Pastors

Mukhtar Thakur, State Council on APA

Dilip Mallick, Vice Chair, Dragon Festival

Shashi Gupta, Bhupat Desai, Bruce Corrie, Asian Pacific Fund, Saint Paul Foundation

Ram Gada, Minnesota Historical Society

Hyder Khan, MN Advocates Human Rights

Bhupat Desai, Ananth Shankar, Dilip Mallick, Sarjit Bains, Bruce Corrie (Chair), The Policy Roundtable

Rowzat Shipchandler, Saint Paul Foundation

SCIENCE/HEALTH/Technology

Sumita Mitra, Gaddam Babu, Ashok Nangia, 3M Corporate Scientist

Vibhu Kshettry, Minneapolis Heart Institute

Ramesh Harjani, Jaideep Srivastava, Shashi Shekhar, Vipin Kumar, High Tech Innovators

Krishna Saxena, Shashi Sane, Children’s Hospital

CULTURE

Ranee Ramaswamy, Ragamala Theatre

Rita Mustafi, Katha Dance Theater

Dipankar Mukerjee, Meena Natarajan, Pangea Theatre

Shivanthi Sathanandan, India MusicSociety

Raj Menon, Godan & Guptan Nambodiripad, Preeti Mathur, Neena Gada, Rabinder Bains

SILC, COMMUNITY

Raghavan Iyer, Indian Cusine

Ethnic Trends: Latinos in Baseball

Bruce P.Corrie, PhD corrie@csp.edu Jonathan Eig writes in the October 22,2005 edition of the Wall Street Journal that with the rise of the White Sox of Chicago, Latino dominance of baseball takes center stage. Ozzie Guillen is the Manager of the Chicago White Sox and is a native of Venezuela. He is the first Latino manager to reach the World Series. 8 of his 25 players at the World series are Latino. In major league baseball Latinos have grown from 13 percent of all players in 1989 to 26 percent in 2004. It is estimated that around half of minor league players are Latinos.

Hmong Real Estate Firm Among Top 25

Bruce P. Corrie, PhD corrie@csp.edu JB Realty (Kou Vang) was ranked 14th in City Business Book of Lists of Real Estate Brokerage Firms. The firm moved up four notches from 18 last year to 14 on the list. For more information see the latest edition of The Business Journal.

Chinese Minnesotans: Economic Contributiions

Bruce P. Corrie, PhD corrie@csp.edu According to Census 2000, there were 15 380 Chinese Minnesotans. Chinese Minnesotans have an estimated buying power of over $400 million dollars. They paid $6.1 million in real estate taxes, $1.2 million in rent and an estimated $45 million in state and local taxes. According to the Economic Census 1997, there were 922 Chinese Minnesotans firms with an estimated 454 million in sales. Chinese Minnesotans have very high human capital: 60 percent of the Chinese Minnesotan workforce were in Management and Professional occupations. Chinese educational levels were higher than the average for Minnesota with 64 percent having a Bachelor’s degree or higher. 11 percent had doctorates. Below is a partial list of Chinese Minnesotans who have contributed to the building of Minnesota in various areas.

1. Business/Science Fred Hsiao, Top 25 General Contractor Lee Ann Chin, Restaurant chain Yvonne Cheung Ho, President, MEDA Eugene Sit, Sit Mutual Funds Paul Gam, Saint Jude MedicalLi King Feng, MN Trade OfficeZ.J and Helen Lee, EntrepreneursWeiming Lu, President, Lowertown Redevelopment CorporationH. C. Shin, Executive Vice President, 3MKaren Hsiao Ashe, Scientist, U of M, Alzheimer’s diseaseDavid Pui, Scientist, U of MYalai Zhang, EntrepreneurBrian Zhang, Entrepreneur
2. Community Judge Tony Leung, Hennepin County Judge Regina Chu, Hennepin CountyGail Chang Bohr, Children’s Law CenterJennie Hsiao, Council on APA MN Ivy Chang, Co-Chair, U of M Asian Advisory Council, The Policy RoundtableJoseph Hui, Asian Pacific Fund, Saint Paul Foundation, The Policy Roundtable Valerie Lee, Minneapolis FoundationHong Yang, U. of M. China CenterErika Lee, Immigrant historianConnie Wang, AttorneyAmy Xu, AttorneyNelson Dong, AttorneyMargaret Wong, Breck School
3. Culture Yo Yo Ma, International cellistWing Young Houie, PhotographerAnge Hwang, Asia Media Access Kaimay Terry, CAAM Dance TheatrePat Hui, artist and collectorPaul Kwok, artist.

Is China Growing too fast? Minnesota China expert explores topic

The Minnesota based international online journal presenting policy issues from diverse perspectives www.policybriefs.org features Minnesota pioneering China expert, Professor Richard Bohr of the College of Saint Benedict.

Bohr edits a series of policy briefs on the topic – Is China Growing too fast? Also featured is a policy brief on China versus India as the new regional economic superpower.

The online journal indexed by EBSCO presents complex policy issues in a simple way and at the same time offers the reader the diversity of perspectives on a particular topic.

The online editor of the journal, Peter Habenczius is based in Hungary. The Editor/Founder of the journal Dr. Bruce Corrie is professor of economics at Concordia University in Saint Paul, Minnesota. For more information please contact him at corrie@csp.edu.