REMODELING THE MONOLITHIC MINORITY MYTH: THE ECONOMIC IMPACT OF COVID-19 ON ASIAN-AMERICAN WOMEN

Abstract

This paper documents that the employment of Asians and Asian-Americans in the U.S. has been especially hard hit by the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic (April – June 2020). The effect of the pandemic was largest for Southeast Asians – in particular, those who were female, had no college degree, and had at least one child under 18. In occupations hit hardest by the pandemic – i.e., food preparation and personal care service industries – lower-educated and first-generation Southeast Asian females experienced even higher unemployment than other groups. First- and second-generation Asians had drastically different responses to the crisis. In softer-hit occupations, Southeast Asians were hit harder than other races, regardless of gender. Unlike East and Other Asians, Southeast Asians were significantly more disadvantaged than white counterparts in both softer-hit and top crisis-hit occupations. Surprisingly, second-generation East and Other Asian females in softer-hit occupations were also hit hard by the Covid-19 crisis. This unexpected phenomenon suggests that other non-occupation related factors (e.g., racism) might have contributed to such results. Our main patterns did not apply to the 2008 economic crisis, during which school closures were absent and other non-service/higher-wage occupations were hit hardest. Overall, Southeast Asians females in the pandemic exhibited similar economic trends to Hispanics; in comparison, East and Other Asian females’ employment trends more closely matched that of whites. Varying economic impacts of the crisis on different subgroups of Asians demonstrates that Asians are not a monolithic group. Recognizing the stratification within the Asian American minority group allows policy makers to provide more targeted economic relief programs for Asian-Americans. Key words: Employment, Pandemic, Asian, Asian American, Racial Disparity, Education, School Closures, Childcare, Occupation, Immigration, Racism