The Covid-19 Pandemic and Asian American Employment

Abstract

This paper documents that the employment of Asian Americans with no college education has been especially hard hit by the economic crisis associated with the Covid-19 pandemic. This cannot be explained by differences in demographics or in job characteristics, and the pattern does not apply to the 2008 economic crisis. We find some evidence that the effect is larger in occupations with more interpersonal tasks. Asian American employment is also harder hit unconditional on education. This suggests that different selection into education levels across ethnic groups alone cannot explain the main results.

Keywords: Employment, Pandemic, Asian Americans, Racial Disparity

JEL Classification: J21, J70, J71