Though the economy has entered a recovery period, you would not know it from this October's unemployment rate – a 26-year high. Most disturbing, the rate of unemployment among Asian Americans, usually quite low, has doubled over the past year.

This rate of increase is among the highest of all ethnic groups in the United States, exceeding Hispanics and whites, and falling just short of African Americans. Effects are particularly marked among the Chinese, who make up the largest percentage of Asian Americans.

When the economic crisis hit in late 2007, unemployment among Asian Americans was lowest of all U.S. ethnic groups. But by 2009, the situation began to deteriorate. According to Labor Department statistics, between May and June of that year, the seasonally-adjusted unemployment rate jumped from 6.7 percent to 8.2 percent, almost 2.5 times the average national increase of 0.6 percent.

Though Asian-American unemployment fell to 7.5 percent this October, worries persist.

According to Paul Ong of the UCLA Asian American Studies Center, the unemployment rate has swelled from 3.8 percent to 7.5 percent since last October. "In other words, Asian-American unemployment has increased by 96 percent this year," Ong says. During the same period, unemployment among whites increased only 58 percent, and unemployment among blacks and Hispanics increased by 39 percent and 47 percent respectively.

"Absolute unemployment among Asian Americans is still low, but the increase in unemployment is greater than anybody else," Ong says.

Chinese, who make up a quarter of all Asian Americans and tend to be either blue-collar laborers or white-collar office workers, have been hardest hit by this wave of unemployment. According to Larry H. Shinagawa, director of the University of Maryland Asian American Studies Program, most recently unemployed Chinese Americans are in the construction and technology sectors. Because most projects in these sectors come from state governments, budget cuts in states with high Chinese populations such as California, New York, and Illinois have been bad news for Chinese workers.

A report issued by the University of Maryland late last year, entitled "A Portrait of Chinese Americans," provides one of the most detailed analyses to date. According to this survey, Asian-American workers are divided roughly half-and-half between white-collar and blue-collar jobs; men tend to be restaurant workers and computer specialists, while women tend to be accountants, computer specialists, and domestic workers.

Ong, who used to be an advisor for the Census Bureau, says that Asian Americans, who have always been noted for their high educational attainment, are finding that "higher education no longer guarantees employment." Over the past year, the number of Asian Americans with college degrees or higher who have lost their jobs has doubled, a rate of increase twice that of whites. By contrast, the increase in unemployment among Asian Americans without a high school diploma is almost 50 percent less.

In addition, the average duration of unemployment for Asian Americans is 30.1 weeks, slightly shorter than African Americans at 31.9 weeks, but much longer than Hispanics and whites, at 25.5 and 27.2 weeks respectively. Ong suspects this is because Asian Americans' incomes depend more upon the expenditures of other ethnic groups such as whites. As other ethnic groups lose their jobs, Asian Americans suffer a snowball effect.

However, both scholars agree that if the economy does not continue to deteriorate, Asian Americans' absolute unemployment rate will remain lower than for other ethnic groups, because Asians are more willing to take on low-paying jobs and tend to live in cities, where work opportunities are numerous.