Filipinos in Hawaii

Filipinos in Hawaii make up a large and growing part of the state's population. In 2000 they were the third largest ethnic group and represented 22.8% of the population,^[1] but more recent data indicates they have become the largest ethnicity in Hawaii.

History

Early 20th Century

The importation of Filipino workers for the sugar plantations began between 1906 and 1910. By the 1920s Filipinos in Hawaii were still largely male, men outnumbered women by nearly seven to one, and unmarried. They represented, at one point, half of the workers in the sugar industry. Initially the Filipinos tended to be "peasants" of lower education than other groups.^[2]

After 1965

The Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965 allowed more Filipinos to bring family to Hawaii and this allowed more Filipino arrivals, particularly Filipino women, to enter the state. The increase in arrivals also caused some backlash and in the 1970s Filipinos felt discriminated against. They also tended to do poorer at schools than average in that decade.^[3]

Ethnic majority

The 2010 census showed that Filipinos surpassed Japanese as Hawaii’s ethnic majority. The total population of Filipinos was 342,095 of which 197,497 were full Filipinos, the total population of Japanese was 312,292 of which 185,502 were full Japanese.^[4][5] According to surveys conducted by the American Community Survey showed that Filipinos overtook Japanese between 2007 and 2008.^[6]

References