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The Labor Market Impact of Covid-19 on Asian Americans

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Abstract

Asian Americans faced a disproportionately larger surge in unemployment rates than other racial and ethnic groups during the Covid-19 pandemic. While existing literature typically examines labor demand channels to explain this, we instead explore a labor supply channel. Our hypothesis is that Asian Americans are more cautious about Covid-19 infections and thus more selective about job opportunities, contributing to their higher unemployment rate than other groups. Analysis of cellphone data during the pandemic indicates that non-work mobility significantly decreased in areas with larger Asian populations, supporting our hypothesis.

Suggested Citation

  • Chris de Mena & Suvy Qin & Jing Zhang, 2023. "The Labor Market Impact of Covid-19 on Asian Americans," Working Paper Series WP 2023-10, Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago.
    • Handle: RePEc:fip:fedhwp:95998
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Charles, Kerwin Kofi & Guryan, Jonathan & Park, Kyung H., 2025. "Consumer sentiment towards Asians in the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 247(C).

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • J7 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Labor Discrimination
    • I0 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - General
    • J2 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor

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