U.S. Labor Force Characteristics of Asians, Native Hawaiians, and Other Pacific Islanders

Thursday, May 30, 2024

As we celebrate Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders this month, BLS data help us highlight their participation in the U.S. labor force. Through the Current Population Survey, BLS publishes information on the labor market characteristics of people who identify their race as Asian or Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander (NHPI). Compared to the national average, Asians tend to attain higher levels of formal education, have lower rates of unemployment, and earn higher wages. In general, larger than average shares of the Asian and NHPI populations in the United States are employed. Let’s take a closer look.

Educational Attainment

Sixty-one percent of the Asian American population age 25 and older held a bachelor’s degree or higher in 2023, compared with 38.6 percent of all people of this age group in the United States. More than 1 in 4 Asians had an advanced level of education such as a master’s, professional, or doctoral degree. Overall, around 1 in 7 people in the United States held an advanced degree.

Among Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islanders, 64.1 percent were either high school graduates with no college or had some college or an associate degree. A bachelor’s degree or higher was held by 29.8 percent of NHPIs, with about 1 in 10 NHPIs holding an advanced degree.

Editor’s note: Data for this chart are available in the table below.

Employment-population ratio

In the United States, 60.3 percent of those age 16 years and older were employed in 2023. Asians and NHPIs tend to be employed at a higher rate than the overall population. In 2023, around 63 percent of each of these populations held jobs.

Editor’s note: Data for this chart are available in the table below.

We can also look at the work experience of several groups within the Asian population. BLS publishes information on seven different Asian groups—Asian Indian, Chinese, Filipino, Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese, and Other Asian. Of these, the percentage of each population that was employed in 2023 ranged from 54.3 percent of Japanese to 68.5 percent of Asian Indians. Also among the Asian groups with the highest employment-population ratios were Filipinos (64.6 percent) and Koreans (64.1 percent).

Editor’s note: Data for this chart are available in the table below.

Unemployment Rate

Educational attainment has an impact on other work-related characteristics such as unemployment. Asians’ higher than average levels of formal education contribute to often having a lower unemployment rate than other groups. The unemployment rate for Asians was 3.0 percent in 2023 compared with a rate of 3.6 percent for the United States overall. The jobless rate for Native Hawaiians and Other Pacific Islanders was 4.1 percent.

Editor’s note: Data for this chart are available in the table below.

In fact, nearly all Asian groups had unemployment rates lower than the U.S. rate of 3.6 percent in 2023. The jobless rate for Koreans was 1.8 percent. Japanese had a rate of 2.1 percent and Chinese, 2.6 percent, while the rates for Filipinos and Vietnamese were each 2.8 percent. Asian Indians had an unemployment rate of 3.4 percent.

Editor’s note: Data for this chart are available in the table below.

Earnings

We also have earnings data for Asians. Along with high educational attainment and low unemployment rates, Asians tend to have higher than average earnings. Median weekly earnings for full-time Asian workers age 16 and older were $1,474, compared with $1,117 for all full-time workers in 2023. Earnings for Asian men and Asian women were higher than the national average.

Editor’s note: Data for this chart are available in the table below.

This is just a sample of the information available on the labor force status of Asian Americans and Native Hawaiians and Other Pacific Islanders. Explore some of our other resources to expand your knowledge.

• Data about Asians
• Data about Native Hawaiians and Other Pacific Islanders
• The Employment Situation news release
• Usual Weekly Earnings of Wage and Salary Workers news release
• Union Members news release
• Employment Characteristics of Families news release
• Geographic Profile of Employment and Unemployment

 

Percent distribution of the population age 25 and older by educational attainment, 2023 annual averages

Race	Less than a high school diploma	High school graduate, no college	Some college or associate degree	Bachelor's degree only	Advanced degree
Total	8.6	27.9	25.0	23.8	14.8
Asian	7.6	17.7	13.7	33.8	27.2
Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander	6.1	32.8	31.3	20.2	9.7

 

Employment–population ratios, age 16 and older

Year	Total	Asian	Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander
2003	62.3	62.4	63.6
2004	62.3	63.0	67.4
2005	62.7	63.4	70.2
2006	63.1	64.2	70.6
2007	63.0	64.3	69.4
2008	62.2	64.3	67.8
2009	59.3	61.2	61.8
2010	58.5	59.9	60.1
2011	58.4	60.0	62.2
2012	58.6	60.1	63.0
2013	58.6	61.2	62.9
2014	59.0	60.4	63.5
2015	59.3	60.4	62.8
2016	59.7	60.9	65.7
2017	60.1	61.5	62.9
2018	60.4	61.6	64.9
2019	60.8	62.3	66.2
2020	56.8	57.3	60.8
2021	58.4	60.6	62.2
2022	60.0	62.7	63.9
2023	60.3	63.1	63.3

 

Employment–population ratios of detailed Asian groups, age 16 and older, 2023 annual averages

Group	Percent
U.S. Total	60.3
Asian Indian	68.5
Filipino	64.6
Korean	64.1
Vietnamese	61.4
Chinese	60.5
Other Asian	60.5
Japanese	54.3

 

Unemployment rates, age 16 and older

Year	Total	Asian	Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander
2003	6.0	6.0	7.7
2004	5.5	4.4	6.1
2005	5.1	4.0	4.3
2006	4.6	3.0	5.3
2007	4.6	3.2	4.8
2008	5.8	4.0	6.4
2009	9.3	7.3	10.8
2010	9.6	7.5	12.0
2011	8.9	7.0	10.4
2012	8.1	5.9	11.8
2013	7.4	5.2	10.2
2014	6.2	5.0	6.1
2015	5.3	3.8	5.7
2016	4.9	3.6	4.4
2017	4.4	3.4	6.1
2018	3.9	3.0	5.3
2019	3.7	2.7	3.2
2020	8.1	8.7	8.9
2021	5.3	5.0	6.9
2022	3.6	2.8	4.0
2023	3.6	3.0	4.1
Note: Data are not seasonally adjusted

 

Unemployment rates, age 16 and older, 2023 annual averages

Group	Percent
U.S. Total	3.6
Korean	1.8
Japanese	2.1
Chinese	2.6
Filipino	2.8
Vietnamese	2.8
Asian Indian	3.4
Other Asian	3.8

 

 Median weekly earnings (U.S. dollars) of full-time wage and salary workers, 16 years and older, 2023

Race	All workers	Men	Women
Total	1,117	1,202	1,005
Asian	1,474	1,635	1,299