The Good, the Bad and the Curious about Asian American Unemployment

A recent study from the Economic Policy Institute pointed out the unusual position of Asian Americans in the current recession, While a large portion of Asian Americans have bachelor’s and advanced degrees, a larger share of Asian American workers than whites lack high school diplomas.

However, Asian Americans with bachelor’s degrees and advanced degrees  have a higher unemployment rate than whites with equivalent educational attainment. On the other hand, Asian American high school dropouts, are more successful than white dropouts at finding employment.

The study concludes that these different advantages and disadvantages amount to a net disadvantage for Asian American workers. They estimate that overall unemployment rate for Asian Americans, 25-years-old and over, should be almost one point lower if they adjusted for education. The end of 2009 saw an Asian American unemployment rate of 7.1%., slightly higher than white workers.

The study can be found below.