The Two Biggest Employment Hurdles Faced by the Asian Community
This is #IncreaseDiversity, a weekly newsletter series + Increase Diversity Toolbox sharing best practices for employers who want to learn how to… well, increase diversity. To see previous editions, visit JenniferTardy.com. | IG: @IncreaseDiversity | Increase Diversity - YouTube
Today’s article kicks off a new series of publications where we will highlight the main employment biases, or “hurdles,” faced by eight marginalized groups and unpack how these impact recruitment and retention.
CALL TO ACTION: Throughout this article series, we want to engage with you, our community, to learn more about organizations that are tackling these hurdles. Our goal is to amplify the good work they are doing to dismantle major employment obstacles and increase diversity and retention.
As this is the first newsletter to be published during Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month (AAPI Month), our focus today will be on Asian people in the US.
Before we dive into the details, I want to ensure we are all on the same page regarding language. I will use the term Asian American to refer to all people living in the US with Asian heritage, although we should appreciate that within this group, folks express a wide variety of identities and research has shown that only 16% refer to themselves as “Asian American.”
With that in mind, let’s start by looking at a few key facts. Asian Americans are the fastest-growing immigrant group in the US and currently account for an estimated 23.5 million people, 64% of whom are naturalized citizens. About a third of all US immigrants come from Asia and the three most common ethnic groups are Chinese, Indian, and Filipino.
Recently, a large international study discovered that compared with employees of other races, Asians feel the least included in workplaces across the US, Europe, and Australia.
More importantly, why might this be the case?
Our research has pinpointed a few possible factors, but we would like to bring two major issues to your attention today: the unhelpful cliché of the “model minority,” and the employment barriers faced by immigrants in general (since Asian Americans are the largest such group).
Hurdle #1: The Model Minority Myth
Asians are often stereotyped as hardworking and compliant and this reputation can go before them in the workplace. They also tend to be treated as a monolithic group even though they arrive in the US from many different countries. Not only do these issues “erase the differences across the community,” they create the “bamboo ceiling” where Asian Americans are underrepresented in senior roles due to being seen as doers rather than leaders.
For instance, only 2% of US CEOs identify as Asian compared with 9% of the overall professional workforce. And as reported by Los Angeles Times, Asian Americans are less likely to be promoted to management than any other racial or ethnic group, including Latinx and African American employees.
In other words, Asian Americans face barriers to promotion and advancement in the workplace due to the fact they are perceived as doers and not leaders, and the effect is evidently stronger for women.
A recent report from McKinsey captured this reality through a quote from one Asian American professional: “When people look at us, they don’t really see a leader. They see someone smart, good with numbers, but not someone who can lead a team.”
Digging a little deeper can help us understand why, as this underrepresentation reflects another prevalent stereotype: Asians are presumed to lack creativity. In one survey, 22% of Asian Americans said that people had assumed they were not creative thinkers because of their race or ethnicity.
Why does this matter? Because creativity is viewed as a key leadership attribute, and real-world evidence points to an impact. Jackson G. Lu, an Associate Professor at MIT, just published research findings where East Asians were less likely to be viewed as “leadership material” in the context of an MBA class, precisely due to the assumption that they are not creative.
To summarize, unhelpful stereotypes about Asians hold back Asian Americans in the workplace and account for the fact that their representation progressively declines at successive leadership levels.
Hurdle #2: Immigration as an Employment Barrier
Last year, KFF and Los Angeles Times surveyed over 3,000 immigrants born outside the US to understand their experiences. When it came to work, the unemployment rate was low (6%) but wages were often lower than for US-born colleagues doing the same job, and reports of workplace discrimination were common.
Also, employed immigrants were concentrated in specific sectors including agriculture, construction, and the service industry, and many indicated they were overqualified for their jobs.
While outright hiring discrimination is certainly a factor—due to “unequal power relations that underlie race and immigration status,” in the words of one group of academics—challenges with English language proficiency can present some practical difficulties.
In the survey mentioned above, 47% of adult immigrants said they had limited English proficiency and among this group, 29% stated that the language barrier makes it difficult to get or keep a job.
For Asian Americans specifically, around half (54%) were born outside the US and a significant proportion of them (42%) identified as being less than proficient in English. Many individuals said this had a negative impact on their ability to find employment, while others mentioned that their accent led to them being treated differently at work.
To summarize, the language barrier affects many Asian Americans who were born outside the US and makes it challenging for them to find (or keep) work. This may be a contributing factor in direct discrimination against Asian Americans, because 15% have been turned down for a job and 5% have been fired because of their race or ethnicity.
How Should We Respond?
What can be done to remove these significant hurdles for our nation’s more than 20 million Asian immigrants?
As diversity recruiters, we should certainly remind ourselves to look beyond popular clichés and recognize Asian Americans as a marginalized group faced with unique employment challenges. It is equally as important to communicate this reality throughout our organizations, to break down those stereotypes and create a fairer and more inclusive workplace for all Asian Americans.
Beyond that, wider action is clearly necessary and various advocacy organizations are actively working for change. As one example, Ascend supports all Asian Americans in the workplace and has established initiatives specifically aimed at eliminating the bamboo ceiling.
We are keen to engage with our community to find out about similar organizations addressing Asian American employment barriers, whether they be at the city, state, or national level. What organizations are you aware of that are working to dismantle the barriers we have encountered today, and benefit all Asian Americans at work?
To overcome the second hurdle, many Asian immigrants enroll in English programs offered locally after arriving in the US. We are interested to learn whether any employers are directly providing such courses. Do you specifically know of any programs serving Asian Americans in this way?
In closing, we hope that today’s newsletter has given you valuable new insights into the Asian American workforce and will fuel many useful discussions where you work, both this week and throughout the rest of AAPI Month.
JOIN US IN THE COMMENTS: As already mentioned, have you come across (or directly engaged with) any organizations tackling the two major hurdles and dismantling barriers for the Asian community in the workplace? We greatly value community feedback and encourage you to share any such organizations you know of that are targeting the issues highlighted in today’s article.
