New York City reopens The road to recovery for Asian-American businesses remains tough

Asian small businesses in New York City were a key driver of pre-COVID-19 economic growth, but now they are facing the longest road to recovery.

On April 12, due to the impact of the new crown pneumonia epidemic, the doors of the shops in Manhattan, New York, which were usually noisy, were closed and there were few pedestrians. (Source: China News Service)

According to a report by the nonprofit Asian American Federation (AAF), Asian-American businesses suffered early on, while the government helped them the least. Because of the language barrier, these Asians often do not have access to financial assistance. At the same time, technical barriers and a surge in anti-Asian hate crimes have prevented many restaurants, salons, grocery stores, laundromats and other service industries from returning to normal.

Numerous events resumed as the city reopened, but staff and visitors still haven't fully returned. According to SafeGraph, local pedestrian traffic is still below 2019 levels. Wellington Chen, executive director of Chinatown Business Improvement District, said: "Obviously, if you work from home, you're not going to come to the downtown business district. Overall, the restaurants are not doing well. ”

Before the coronavirus pandemic, Asian-American small businesses accounted for 20 percent of New York City's business and were the fastest-growing segment of the region.

According to the Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth, consumer spending in Manhattan's Chinatown and Flushing (a large Asian-American community in Queens) began to decline since New York entered lockdown in March 2020, according to data from the Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth. By early March, spending in these locations had fallen more than the rest of the city. According to the AAF report, more than half of Asian-American businesses say their revenues fell by 75 percent or more last year.

At the same time, many businesses lack digital payment and online delivery capabilities. According to Mastercard, in New York City, 24 percent of grocery store and restaurant transactions in 2020 were digital payments, but only 3 percent in the Asian community were digital payments.

The blow to businesses means that many in the community have lost their jobs. From May 2019 to May 2020, the number of Asians claiming state unemployment benefits in New York increased by more than 4,000 percent, nearly three times the increase in the state's entire population. Asians with less education are even more unsustainable during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Some shopkeepers also said that the situation has not improved enough since the outbreak of the epidemic. At a Sichuan Hot Pot in Chinatown, partner Yong Zhong Lim reveals the dilemmas these businesses face.

On a weekday evening, he hosted several passers-by — a far cry from what had once been bustling. Before the pandemic, Sichuan hot pot restaurants needed 3 delivery workers at lunchtime. But today, it shares two delivery men with 5 other restaurants. "I don't mind working hard," Mr. Lin said, "but I don't even have the chance to work hard." ”

Rising food costs, supply chain bottlenecks and persistent concerns about a delta virus variant have further exacerbated tensions at the restaurant in recent months. Meanwhile, during the CORONAVIRUS pandemic, hate crimes against asian communities surged, and restaurant staff went home for safety. The 800 Asian-American business owners surveyed by AAF are generally concerned about anti-Asian bias.

Asian-American businesses in other regions face the same situation. Asian-American businesses surveyed in Southern California this spring reported more losses during the COVID-19 pandemic than any business in the region. According to a survey this year by the National Asian/Pacific Islander American Chamber of Commerce and Entrepreneurship, 60 percent of Asian-American businesses in the United States missed out on financial aid because everyone didn't think they were eligible.

James Chen, owner of Blink Marketing, a store that Flushing helps many local restaurants print menus, said: "Quite a few restaurants have not survived the pandemic. The rest are still struggling. They don't know where the end of the darkness is. (End)