‘Overlooked’: Asian American Jobless Rate Surges But Few Take Notice

A man passes by a closed restaurant in New York City’s Chinatown on Aug. 10, 2020. The unemployment rate for Asian Americans has surged amid the pandemic, a trend that has been overlooked amid the widespread economic misery.

Spencer Platt / Getty Images

The coronavirus pandemic is taking a heavy economic toll on Asian Americans.

From Vietnamese nail salons to Cambodian donut shops, Asian-owned businesses have struggled. And Asian American workers have gone from having the lowest unemployment rate in the country to one of the highest.

Jerry Raburn lost his job at a mortgage servicing company in Southern California in March, just six months after he started.