Asians, not African-Americans, appear hardest hit by ongoing job losses, labor report shows

Though the May jobs report released Friday shows an unexpected overall drop in unemployment, the data also show that both African-American and Asian unemployment numbers increased last month, and that Asians as a whole have experienced a sharper uptick in unemployment rates since March. 

The bureau's "employment situation" report shows the nationwide unemployment rate declined to 13.3%, from 14.7%, representing a gain of about 2.5 million jobs.

The economic improvement was an indication that at least part of the country is rebounding from months of severe lockdowns imposed by governors during the coronavirus pandemic. 

Yet both black and Asian Americans saw continued losses over the past month. Black unemployment slightly increased by 0.1% in May, going from 16.7% to 16.8%. 

Asian unemployment jumped an even greater amount, going from 14.5% to 15%.

The Asian unemployment rate has actually risen more sharply than that of black Americans since March, according to the report. Asians were unemployed at a rate of 4.1% that month, while the African-American rate was 6.7%. 

The bureau said that in April of this year the country shed over 20 million non-farm jobs