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Although Asians comprise 6.2% of the overall U.S. labor market and are the fastest growing and most diverse racial group in the country, they are the least likely among all race/ethnic groups to become executive leaders, especially Asian women. Scholarship on the bamboo ceiling has emphasized the model minority myth as an impediment for Asian Americans to advance into executive-level management positions; however, there has also been a dearth of research on Asian Americans and their experiences with workplace discrimination. Using data from the second wave of the 2016 National Asian American Survey (n = 1,013), this study compares the responses of Asian Americans with other major race/ethnic groups, to include 10 Asian subgroups, to examine the prevalence of perceived discriminatory treatment in denied promotion decisions as a result of their race/ethnicity. The findings identify sources of heterogeneity and highlight higher degrees of perceived discrimination in denied promotion decisions, to include a disadvantage among females and a U.S.-born advantage, among several Asian ethnicities.

The model minority myth often attributes the occupational achievement of Asian Americans to the highest echelon of the U.S. labor market; however, the author demonstrates that the bamboo ceiling—an invisible barrier that impedes upward mobility—still exists for many Asian men and women as a result of their race/ethnicity.

The bamboo ceiling—a wordplay off the more popularized phrase the glass ceiling—has been studied briefly since Hyun (2005) first coined the term to describe a combination of cultural and organizational factors that impede Asians from climbing the corporate ladder. Although Asians have become the largest racial cohort of professionals in the U.S. labor market, especially in the STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) and health care occupations, they are the least likely among all race/ethnic groups to become executive leaders, especially Asian women (Gee & Peck, 2017; Min & Jang, 2015). And although the term is mostly used to portray the experiences of Asians in the private sector—only 32 are chief executive officers (CEOs) at Fortune 500 and