Washington, DC – Last week, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) released a new report detailing the Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) workforce, including statistics on unemployment rates, earnings, and poverty. The Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance, AFL-CIO (APALA) applauds the DOL for its disaggregation by ethnic group on labor characteristics and calls for other federal agencies to disaggregate data similarly.
The report’s findings reiterate the importance of the disaggregation of data. For example, AAPIs had the lowest rate of unemployment in 2015 of any major racial or ethnic group, while unemployment rates between AAPI subgroups differed substantially. In particular, Native Hawaiians and Other Pacific Islanders were reported to experience the highest rate of unemployment among AAPI ethnic subgroups.
APALA National President Johanna Puno Hester commented: “The power of data disaggregation will fuel and better direct advocacy efforts of APALA and our partner organizations that are working across sectors to create power for our communities. When agencies like the DOL start to understand that AAPIs are not a monolith, we’re starting to break down this notion that AAPIs are not a model minority.”
APALA Executive Director Gregory A. Cendana added: “We’re excited to work more closely with community advocacy organizations like the Council for Native Hawaiian Advancement, Empowering Pacific Islander Communities, Payuta and the National Council of Asian Pacific Americans, to advance these economic issues that affect us so closely. Alongside our partners, we’ll continue to fight for AAPI workers and economic justice for all communities of color throughout the country.”
To read the full report, please visit: https://www.dol.gov/general/aapi.
To take the #NotYourModelMinority pledge, please visit: www.notyourmodelminority.org.
The report’s findings reiterate the importance of the disaggregation of data. For example, AAPIs had the lowest rate of unemployment in 2015 of any major racial or ethnic group, while unemployment rates between AAPI subgroups differed substantially. In particular, Native Hawaiians and Other Pacific Islanders were reported to experience the highest rate of unemployment among AAPI ethnic subgroups.
APALA National President Johanna Puno Hester commented: “The power of data disaggregation will fuel and better direct advocacy efforts of APALA and our partner organizations that are working across sectors to create power for our communities. When agencies like the DOL start to understand that AAPIs are not a monolith, we’re starting to break down this notion that AAPIs are not a model minority.”
APALA Executive Director Gregory A. Cendana added: “We’re excited to work more closely with community advocacy organizations like the Council for Native Hawaiian Advancement, Empowering Pacific Islander Communities, Payuta and the National Council of Asian Pacific Americans, to advance these economic issues that affect us so closely. Alongside our partners, we’ll continue to fight for AAPI workers and economic justice for all communities of color throughout the country.”
To read the full report, please visit: https://www.dol.gov/general/aapi.
To take the #NotYourModelMinority pledge, please visit: www.notyourmodelminority.org.
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