Asian Americans face longer periods of unemployment: CNBC

NEW YORK, May 31 (Xinhua) -- Asian American workers face the longest periods of joblessness and other labor challenges, despite having the lowest unemployment rate out of any racial or ethnic group in the United States, reported CNBC on Monday.

Labor market statistics suggest Asian Americans suffer from long-term joblessness more than other workers. The median duration of unemployment for Asian Americans was 21.9 weeks in 2021, the longest period of any racial or ethnic group. Asian men in particular saw a median period of joblessness of 26.1 weeks.

Last month, Asian men saw an average unemployment period of 46.2 weeks and Asian women experienced joblessness on average for 33.9 weeks, a report from Equitable Growth found.

Transition rates, the likelihood of a worker moving from unemployment to reemployment, also show Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders have a hard time getting reemployed once they became unemployed, according to an analysis from the Center for Economic and Policy Research.

"Once you control for a bunch of demographic factors, and if you still see a lower transition rate for a certain group of workers, you will just attribute that to labor market stereotype or discrimination," economist Julie Cai was quoted by CNBC as saying.