Last Monday, we celebrated Labor Day, a day to honor and recognize American labor and their contributions to our country. But this Labor Day is unlike many others. While Latino workers have consistently been overrepresented in industries like service and agriculture, this year they have become “essential” workers in a new context: that of a global pandemic in which Latinos are disproportionately affected.
Every day since the onset of the pandemic, millions of Latinos have reported to their jobs, risking their health and that of their families, in industries that have kept vital services running for the rest of the country. Farmworkers, construction crews, cooks and servers in the food industry, gardeners, janitors, dishwashers, caretakers, nurses, doctors, delivery drivers, you name it, our country would not be running if it were not for the services of the frontline Latino workers risking their lives every day.
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Latinos make up 85% of all farmworkers in the country, 59% of construction crews, 53% of food service employees, and 39% of the country’s total workforce. Their essentiality now puts a target on them: the rate of COVID-19 infection and deaths for Latinos is twice that of the general population.
According to health experts, essential workers’ jobs, which require them to leave their homes and interact with the public, make them especially vulnerable to infection. A poll revealed that Latinos were the group with the lowest number of people who said they could work from home during the pandemic, at only 42% saying they were able to. Latinos are also more likely than the general population to have had someone in their household lose a job or had to accept a pay cut during the pandemic.
And the numbers show the risk: in May, Latinos comprised about 40% of the population of California but 53% of positive coronavirus cases. In San Francisco, where they comprise only 15% of the population, Latinos made up 43% of confirmed cases. In the Mission District, where Latinos made up 44% of people tested in a study, they comprised a striking 95% of positive cases. 90% of those infected with the virus said they were unable to work from home.
In states with lower numbers of Latinos, the data is equally concerning. In Iowa, for example, where Latinos make up only 6% of the population, they accounted for a quarter of all positive cases in May. In Washington state, with Latinos comprising 13% of the population, they represented 35% of positive cases.
A recent study in Massachusetts revealed that 78% of Latinos reported feeling unsafe at their jobs. This is not only because of the nature of their essential jobs, but also because access to job benefits, like health insurance and paid sick leave, is lower or sometimes nonexistent for Latino essential workers.
As Latino frontline workers bear the brunt of the pandemic, they become more essential than ever. California’s Kings County Supervisor Doug Verboon testified to this, saying that the country depends on Latino workers even more during this year’s cherry picking season, and calling the potential of an outbreak among workers “catastrophic.”
So on this Labor Day week and beyond, as we open our fridges, order takeout, or notice the well-cared for gardens in our surroundings, let us be grateful and appreciative of all the work our fellow Latino essential workers are doing for our country during this difficult time.