Editing Chinese Americans (section)

==== Perceptions and change ====
There has been a significant change in the perceptions about Chinese Americans among the general American populace. In as little as a century of American history, [[Stereotypes of East Asians in the Western world|stereotypes of Chinese and other East Asian Americans]] have changed from being perceived as indentured and uneducated [[coolie]] laborers who were perpetually entangled in an endlessly hopeless cycle of socioeconomic destitution towards a modern juxtaposed portrayal of them being an intelligent, conscientious, and a highly educated minority group. Most Chinese Americans work as [[White-collar worker|white-collar]] professionals, many of whom are highly educated and salaried professionals whose work is largely self-directed in management, professional, and related occupations such as engineering, medicine, finance, law, and academia. 63.1% of Chinese Americans work in white-collar professions compared with 57.5% for all Asian Americans and a U.S. national average of 42.2%.<ref name="United States Census Bureau" /> Chinese Americans also make up a third of the Asian-American high-tech professional workforce and one-tenth of the entire Silicon Valley workforce.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.modelminority.com/joomla/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=227:chinese-american-contributions-to-silicon-valley-&catid=47:society&Itemid=56 |title=Chinese American Contributions to Silicon Valley |publisher=Modelminority.com |date=31 March 2003 |access-date=21 April 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130916155237/http://www.modelminority.com/joomla/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=227:chinese-american-contributions-to-silicon-valley-&catid=47:society&Itemid=56 |archive-date=16 September 2013 |url-status=dead }}</ref> Chinese American unemployment rates are comparable with the general U.S. population average with a figure of 6.4% compared to a national rate of 6.3% in 2021.<ref name="United States Census Bureau" />