McKinsey & Co. Partner Emily Yueh joins Yahoo Finance’s Zack Guzman and Brian Cheung to break down a new report highlighting unemployment among Asian American during the coronavirus pandemic.

Video Transcript

ZACK GUZMAN: This year, we've been tracking the impacts of the coronavirus pandemic and been noting how it's impacted some communities harder than others. And a new report from McKinsey is digging into how Asian-Americans have been impacted by the pandemic, pointing out that Asian-American unemployment rates increased by more than 450% from February to June this year, which is much more than what we've seen in some other groups by race, as well. In that last clip, the Asian unemployment rate in this country is at 8.9%. It was higher than white Americans at 7%.

So what's really going on here? Here to chat that with us McKinsey and Co. Partner, Emily Yueh, as well as Yahoo Finance's Brian Cheung. And Emily, I appreciate you taking the time to chat. It's interesting-- it's a very interesting report when you highlight kind of how this may have happened. And it's something we've seen across other racial groups, as well, in terms of maybe being over levered to some sectors, whether it be hospitality or the medical profession, in this case. But what's going on in terms of what you've seen since the pandemic hit?

EMILY YUEH: You're spot on. Thank you so much for having me, Zack. I think the whole reason we actually wrote the article was really to shine a light on a conversation that many people around the world were simply not having. Asian-Americans have been significantly impacted, almost disproportionately impacted, by the pandemic. And we can actually see this in a number of different ways.

The percentage of, as you mentioned, unemployment has been going up steadily. We've also seen mental health increasingly become an issue with a rise of 39% in mental health across all of Asian-Americans. And when you juxtapose that next to just, frankly, the things that we actually see happening in the front lines, the high percentage of Asian-Americans who risk their lives every day to be in the front lines serving their communities, it's actually a complete stark and contradiction. And so we really wanted to shine a light on that.

BRIAN CHEUNG: Hey, Emily. It's Brian here. So you know, you and Zack mentioned the points about occupational over-representation of Asians in restaurants, hospitality services-- industries that have been really hurt by this crisis, as we know. But what are some other explanations for maybe why Asian-American unemployment has fallen so much? It seems like it's actually a little bit different than what we saw in 2008 and a harsher impact during this time. Why might that be?

EMILY YUEH: You're spot on. I mean, it's actually crazy when you think about, when we say Asian-Americans, it's not a monolith, right? There's actually a huge diaspora of people. When we think about how an East Asian experiences coming to America versus someone in the Southeast Asia versus, you know, on the west, it's completely different.

And not only that. I mean, Brian, you and I have discussed this before. There's really almost a vintaging of Asian-Americans coming to America at different times and their experiences. And so the punchline to all of that is, how Asian-Americans have arrived in the US really begins to impact, frankly, how they are adopted into the economic and social infrastructure.

And when we thought about how we wanted to shine a light on this and what the communities around the world could do, we really wanted to make sure that this wasn't yet another sort of racial Olympics, if you will. We wanted to make sure that we actually had an opportunity to make this even more clear, in terms of the opportunities to impact their communities.

BRIAN CHEUNG: And yeah, at the same time, one thing that your report kind of highlighted was the unique experience of, specifically, xenophobia and discrimination. A lot of people associating this virus with, specifically, East Asian cultures. I mean, how has that played into maybe some of the unemployment trends? Has that really hurt businesses based off of what McKinsey was seeing when you guys were compiling this report?

EMILY YUEH: You know, it's difficult to say what exactly causes what. And you know, it's very difficult to link xenophobia directly to the unemployment. But we do see that there has been a rise in targeted, you know, discrimination against Asians.

And the impact of this is really that, you know, over a third of Americans have been observing and witness individuals blaming Asian-Americans for the outbreak. This is preposterous when you think about the size of the Asian-American community.

And when we see that this is really immediately correlated with a community that doesn't typically talk about mental health. And we actually see that rise by 39%, as I mentioned earlier. So these things are very closely linked to, frankly, the broader context of what is happening to Asian-Americans in the US.

ZACK GUZMAN: I'm glad you mentioned that aspect on the racial Olympics, because that's not what we want to see happen here, either. Because every time we talk about one group getting impacted in this, you hear some other people coming out and saying, why are you highlighting that?

And obviously, you can be-- [CHUCKLING] you could be discriminated against across the board here. So we're not saying that's not happening. But what's interesting is that the unemployment rate did decline in terms of the Asian unemployment rate in that last clip in September, as I said, down at 8.9%. The jobless rate for blacks, 12.1%, and Hispanics at 10.3.

So I mean it is impacting other communities. It's something that we've seen. But talk to me about why it's not necessarily a conversation around not helping all these communities, but something that each one has seen happen here when you think about, again the white unemployment rate's still better than all those at 7%.

EMILY YUEH: You know, what we know from research is that, during times of crises, we all turn to the people that we know and that we trust. And that is just a social phenomenon. That's an economic phenomenon that we've seen year in, year-- you know, across all the different crises.

And what we also know is that part of being disenfranchised is that you're not in the core. You're not in that circle of trust. And so what you said, Zack, is spot on. It's not a huge surprise to see unemployment rise for groups that are historically not at the core and for those that are at the core to really become even closer during times of crisis.

BRIAN CHEUNG: And Emily, lastly, McKinsey works with lots of companies. So what is the overarching theme, I guess, of the report? How are you taking this and applying it to conversations that you're having with companies that have the power to rehire people or decide what to do with their diversity initiatives? What do you hope is the product of this?

EMILY YUEH: Brian, I think this is the big aspiration and push of the article. It's really three things. First, let's all get educated-- really understand the data, really understand what the baseline of the conversation should be.

And the second is to take a pretty clear stance on combating xenophobia. Agnostic of what group we're talking about, this really needs to be a time for us to come together and realize the tapestry that America is. And then, the third is that, when possible, serve your communities. And I think in this particular context, the Asian-American communities really are, you know, some of the-- some of the communities right outside your neighborhood.

ZACK GUZMAN: All right, there you go, and a very interesting discussion there. Obviously, a problem worth highlighting here. Emily Yueh, a McKinsey partner, as well as Yahoo Finance's Brian Cheung, appreciate you both for the conversation.

EMILY YUEH: Thanks so much for having us.