Coronavirus deaths and job cuts hitting Hispanics hard, data show. Here’s why
Hispanics have reported the most job and income losses during the coronavirus outbreak, new nationwide surveys show.
Twenty percent of Hispanics say they experienced layoffs or furloughs since the disease started spreading in the United States, according to a Washington Post-Ipsos poll released Wednesday.
In comparison, those job changes impacted 16% of African Americans and 11% of whites, The Washington Post reported.
The poll results came after a survey from the Pew Research Center found 61% of Hispanic adults reported a loss in jobs or income in their household “due to the coronavirus outbreak.” Forty-four percent of black and 38% of white survey respondents had the same experience, according to the results published April 21.
In another coronavirus-related survey from the Urban Institute, Hispanic families reported facing the most cuts in jobs, income and hours. Hispanic adults were also least likely to say they could do some of their work from home, according to the figures the economic and social research center released April 28.
What could be behind those figures?
People who identify as Hispanic or Latino make up about 18% of the U.S. population but constitute roughly 24% of the hospitality workforce, which was hit hard during the coronavirus pandemic, according to government data. As the disease spread, many restaurants were forced to stop dine-in services, and the travel industry faced strains.
Hispanic or Latino workers also hold about 30% of construction jobs and 27% of agriculture jobs, two industries that some have warned could expose people to the coronavirus, according to McClatchy News and U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data updated in January.
What are the health impacts?
In addition to the work-related impacts, Hispanics and Latinos had the highest coronavirus-related death rates after African Americans, data from New York City shows. People from those groups died at rates “substantially higher” than Asian and white people, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said.
The CDC examined data from 580 patients hospitalized with COVID-19 and found 8% were Hispanic, compared to 14% of the population in the 14 states it observed, according to findings published April 17.
The number of coronavirus cases among Hispanics may be under-reported, Kattia Blanco of North Carolina’s El Centro Hispano told The News & Observer. It’s possible some people don’t mark their ethnicity on forms, especially if they’re undocumented, the newspaper reported.
The CDC says health care barriers can make people more vulnerable to diseases like COVID-19. Hispanics are less likely to have health insurance and paid leave when compared to white people, according to the U.S. government.
The Washington Post-Ipsos poll surveyed 8,086 adults online from April 27 to May 4, results show. The margin of error was 1 percentage point and 3.5 percentage points for people who experienced layoffs, according to the newspaper.
To come up with its findings, Pew Research Center says it worked with Ipsos to survey a “nationally representative panel of randomly selected U.S. adults” from April 7 to April 12. There were 4,917 respondents, and the margin of error was 2.1 percentage points, results show.
Urban Institute says its sample of more than 9,000 adults came from an Ipsos panel. People were asked questions online from March 25 to April 10, and survey documents show no margin of error.
This story was originally published May 7, 2020 at 1:38 PM with the headline "Coronavirus deaths and job cuts hitting Hispanics hard, data show. Here’s why."
