Jobless for Longer: How the Pandemic Has Hit Asian Americans

Asian Americans who lost their jobs during the pandemic have found it harder than most to get them back.

The 5.9% unemployment rate among the roughly 10 million-strong Asian workforce in December was below the national rate. But in the final three months of 2020, almost half of jobless Asians had been out of work for at least 27 weeks -- a bigger sharethan White, Black or Hispanic Americans.

The reasons are largely economic and geographic. Many work in industries particularly vulnerable to business closures, and almost one-third of Asian Americans live in California, one of the states ...