Immigrant Americans excel in advanced studies than natives

A larger percentage of foreign-born Americans had a master's degree or higher than native-born residents in 2007, according to a new report from the US Census Bureau. About 11 per cent of foreign-born people from another country now living in the US and 10 per cent of US born residents had an advanced degree.

These statistics come from `Educational Attainment in the United States', a report that describes the degree or level of school completed by adults 25 and older.

More native-born than foreign-born adults reported completing at least a bachelor's degree with 28 per cent and 27 per cent, respectively, while more foreign-born than native-born adults reported having an advanced degree with 11 per cent and 10 percent, respectively.

These differences suggest that, while a large proportion of the foreign-born population had lower levels of education, a sizeable segment had high levels of education.

Immigrants, who arrived in the US since 2000, also had higher levels of education than those who arrived earlier.

Sixty-eight per cent of Asians reported the highest percentage with at least some college while 49 per cent had a bachelor's degree or more education and 20 per cent, an advanced degree.

In the West, the percentage of foreign-born who had completed at least a bachelor's degree or higher was less than the percentage of the native-born - 24 per cent compared with 31 per cent.

Among the foreign-born, those living in the Northeast had the highest percentage of bachelor's degrees or more 32 per cent, which was the same as their native-born counterparts.

The foreign-born in the South with 26 per cent and the Midwest with 31 per cent were more likely than native-born residents to have at least a college degree with 25 per cent and 26 per cent, respectively.

Across all regions, a smaller percentage of foreign-born than native-born adults had completed at least a high school education.

Other highlights from the report include:

* 84 per cent of adults 25 and older had completed high school, while 27 per cent had obtained at least a bachelor's degree in 2007.

* A larger proportion of women (85 per cent) than men (84 per cent) had completed high school, but a larger proportion of men had earned a bachelor's degree (28 per cent compared with 27 per cent).

* The percentage of high school graduates was highest in the Midwest (87 per cent), and the percentage of college graduates was highest in the Northeast (32 per cent).

* Men earned more than women at each level of educational attainment. The percentage of female-to-male earnings among year-round, full-time workers 25 and older was 77 per cent.

* Workers with a bachelor's degree on average earned about $20,000 more a year ($46,805) than workers with a high school diploma ($26,894).

* Compared with non-Hispanic whites and Asians, black and Hispanic workers earned less at all attainment levels.