Southern California’s Asian community wields significant economic power in the region, according to a new report from the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corp.

The study reveals there are more than 1.4 million Asians living in Los Angeles County. That accounts for just 14.5 percent of the county’s population but they pack a powerful economic punch.

The county’s 489,175 Asian households earn a median household income of $70,440, compared with the county’s overall median of $59,135.

The report also shows that yearly expenditures for things like food, clothing, housing and other items among Asian households is less than the rest of the county’s population. The average annual expenditures for Asian households is $49,650, compared with the median of $57,555 in yearly expenditures for all other households in L.A. County.

But total household spending among the Asian community in 2015 was $16.8 billion, generating a total economic impact of $21.3 billion for the region. That supported 156,470 jobs in the county with total labor income of $7 billion and federal, state and local tax revenues of $3.1 billion.

“I’m not surprised by those numbers,” said Dennis Huang, executive director of the Asian Business Association in Los Angeles. “I think we have persevered through tough economic times and our community has a lot of entrepreneurship.”

Education plays an important role

The report also shows that education plays an important role in the Asian community.

Nearly 88 percent of Asians age 25 and older in L.A. County have at least a high school diploma, compared with 78.1 percent of all other residents in the county. More than 35 percent of that same demographic of Asians in the county have a bachelor’s degree, while 15 percent hold a graduate degree.

The study shows that the most popular bachelor’s degrees among Asians in L.A. County are in science and engineering, followed by business, arts and humanities, and education.

On the lower end, 22.1 percent have some college or an associate degree, 15.2 percent have just a high school degree and 12.3 percent have less than a high school degree.

Huang chalks those high numbers up to a culture that highly values education.

“In many Asian cultures teachers are very well respected,” he said. “I was taught at a very young age that you bow as a sign of respect for teachers. We know that they can help us and that the education they provide will stay with you.”

The report also notes some trends among L.A. County’s Asian population. More than a quarter of working Asians (26.7 percent) are in the education and health services industry — a considerably higher share than the 16.5 percent of all other workers in the county.

More than 10 percent of the region’s working Asians are in the hospitality sector, compared with 8.4 percent of the remaining working population.

Poverty among the Asian population

The study also addresses poverty among the Asian population. More than 30,000 Asian families in the region are living in poverty, it said, which accounts for 8.6 percent of all Asian families in the county.

Christopher Thornberg, a founding partner with Beacon Economics in Los Angeles, said that group likely includes Asians who have immigrated from such nations as Cambodia and Vietnam.

“These are people who don’t have 12 Ph.D.s in their families, and for the most part this group has been forgotten,” he said. “They have not been nearly as successful as the top-line groups of Asians and many of them may have come here as refugees.”

Panda Restaurant Group: a success story

Many Asian-owned businesses in L.A. County — 213,200 are at least partly owned by Asians — are thriving. But few have done as well as Panda Restaurant Group, parent company of Panda Express, Panda Inn and Hibachi-San. Panda Express alone has more than 1,800 locations throughout the globe with more than 27,000 employees. The company generates about $2 billion in annual sales.

The report’s 2012 figures show that Asian-owned firms in wholesale trade earned the most, with $43.7 billion in sales in 2012. That was followed by firms in retail trade ($17.5 billion) and health care ($6.7 billion).

Manufacturing by Asian-owned businesses generated $5.9 billion and accommodation and food services earned $5.5 million in sales.

Our editors found this article on this site using Google and regenerated it for our readers.