The Xiong family of Brooklyn Park is a perfect example of what economic progress looks like in the Hmong community.

The oldest son, 34-year-old Shoua, and his wife, Soua, work late into the night making medical devices at a Chaska factory. His mother, Yer Yang, looks after the couple's five children until her two other sons, Toua, 24, and Kao, 20, come home from work. The matriarch's youngest daughter-in-law, Ying Yang, 21, helps with the cooking and cleaning.

All those who work help pay the bills. Although their wages are modest, pooling their income has allowed them to start moving into the middle class. Together, they can afford to pay for a four-bedroom house that they bought four years ago in a neighborhood filled with manicured lawns and shade trees.

"For us, we have to have two people to work and earn as much as one person," said Toua, comparing Hmong workers to the general population. "If we stay together, we're stronger, we're helping each other out."

Newly released data from the 2000 census shows that the Hmong, farmers from the mountains of Laos who began coming to Minnesota after the Vietnam War, made significant economic gains in the 1990s. Hmong families such as the Xiongs moved en masse into various blue-collar jobs, most of them in the manufacturing industry.

On the education front, the data for the Hmong reflects some strides, but the community still lags in educational achievement. And women, who traditionally have married young, continue to trail men.

Prominent members of the Hmong community said they view the economic indicators as positive signs of advancement in a modern world unknown to the Hmong just a quarter-century ago.

"When you consider that the Hmong were plucked from the mountains of Laos and resettled in the urban jungles of America, not that long ago, I think that the community has come a long way," said Lee Pao Xiong, president of the Urban Coalition and a relative of the Xiongs in Brooklyn Park.

He said that many people have weaned themselves from public assistance to become part of the workforce, which the census data affirms. Blue-collar Hmong workers for years have been making an important contribution to the economy, he said.

"As the Hmong community progresses, more people will move into the professional sector," he said, adding that the challenge now is for the next generation to excel academically.

Ilean Her, executive director of the state Council on Asian-Pacific Minnesotans, said she sees the census results as reflective of the changes in a community that was youthful and lacking English-language skills and solid work experience at the time of the previous census.

"It's going to take some time to be on par with the general population," she said. "But as the younger children buy into the American style, we will see things change gradually."

She hopes that will hold true, particularly in education. While there have been a number of successes in high school and college graduation rates, Her said, many young Hmong still feel pressured to quit school and work so they can help with family expenses.

While the economic achievements of the Hmong are good news, Her said, the community must not rest on its laurels if it is to achieve a good quality of life on all levels. "I want to challenge the community to think about employment as a career in order to keep advancing," she said. "And we have to really focus on the children and their education."

Emphasis on learning

The Xiongs of Brooklyn Park already do that. The younger children are fluent in English and go to college. The older ones speak enough English to get by, which enabled them to get their factory jobs after moving here from California in 1997.

Life in Minnesota "is way better for the family," said Toua, who does clerical work and studies social work at Metro State University in St. Paul. In California, he said, members of the family struggled to find work and the whole family was ailing financially.

"We're pretty happy here," Toua said. Living with his mother and siblings makes it easier for him and his pregnant wife, Ying, to juggle responsibilities. After the baby's birth in August, his mother will watch the infant so he and Ying can go back to college. She studies nursing at Hennepin Technical College.

The young couple also help his grandmother watch over Shoua and Soua's children, two girls and three boys whose ages range from 15 months to 10. Toua teaches the kids English and makes sure that they do their homework on time, and when school is in session he attends the conferences that his older brother and his wife must miss because of work. Although their shift ends at midnight, Shoua and Soua frequently work overtime. On those nights, they return home at 2 or 3 a.m. Now that her children are older, Soua said she's hoping to switch to an earlier shift.

Toua's younger brother, Kao, works cleaning cars at a rental agency. Toua said Kao is thinking about going to college. Neither one is interested in a factory job; Toua said he wants an education that will help him get into a fulfilling career. He's hoping to someday make more than the $15 per hour that his older brother earns at the factory. Maybe then, Toua said, he and the rest of the family can afford a bigger house.

"That's what we all dream about," Toua said. "The reason we came to America is to build a better life for us and our kids."

Faico Xiong of Minneapolis, who is not related to the Xiongs of Brooklyn Park, echoed Toua's sentiments. He and his wife, Pang Her, who bought a home in north Minneapolis a year ago, also work at the Chaska factory but they want something else for their children.

Family responsibilities forced the 43-year-old Xiong to cut short his own college education, but he said he expects his seven kids to pursue higher education.