The reality for Latina workers in the US

Is the reality that Mexican, Central and South American women live in the United States what they dreamed of when they migrated? A report from the Department of Labor of that country shows that its employment rates they are slightly above the average for all women, but at the same time have higher unemployment, overrepresentation in service jobs, and low wages.

According to the report Recognizing the unique employment outcomes of Latinas in the United States workforcein that country live more than 21.7 million Latinas over 18 years. The document indicates that while 58% of the entire female population has a job or an economic activity, 59% of women of Mexican origin are employed. This proportion rises to 62% for Central Americans and 65% for South Americans.

But if we see how much they earn, the places are reversed. On average, all working women earn $49,263 a year; but the Mexicans obtain 36,534 dollars annually and the Hondurans, 31,105 dollars. The bloc of South American women workers earns more, $43,411 a year, but is still below the national average.

Globally, nearly half of all migrants are women and girls, according to the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA). But one difference between the feminization of migration is that women tend to move with their sons and daughters. Another is that live a double discrimination: Because of their migrant status and because of their gender and this can have repercussions in the workplace, says that UN agency.

Employment and unemployment situation

In labor participation in the United States, Venezuelan women stand out, who have the highest rate, with 67 percent of them working. On the other hand, women of Honduran origin are the ones with the lowest rate, in these parameters, since 58.8% have a job. Now, if we compare what happens in Mexico, we see that here 42% of women have a job.

Information from the US Department of Labor indicates that women from Latin America —or from Abya Yala, as various indigenous peoples have designated these territories— also have unemployment rates greater than those of women in general.

Thus, while 6.3% of all women in the United States who are of working age do not have a job, the 7.8% of Mexicans in that country is in the same situation. The rate for Central American women is 7.7% and for South American women, 7.5 percent.

“Cuban women had the unemployment rate lower with 6.7 percent. Meanwhile, Dominican (12.5%), Puerto Rican (9.4%), Honduran (9.2%) and Ecuadorian (8.4%) women had even higher unemployment rates than the average among Latinas.

The report, prepared by Eleanor Delamater, policy analyst at the Women’s Office, does not detail the immigration status of these workers. This status matters, because if they do not have the documents to work formally, they are more likely to be unemployed or have poor working conditions.

Not hispanic, plurality in the labor market

Last October 15 ended the National Hispanic Heritage Month in the United States, which begins every September 15. In this context, the Department of Labor released this report in which it also includes Spain. Although that European country lives a very different reality from that of this part of the world and when its population migrates, it also faces Labor conditions very different.

Many migrant communities reject the term of Spanishness and also that of Latinity, since both are based on a European and colonialist concept that homogenizes, disappears and discriminates. However, despite the cultural, academic, social and political resistance of these populations, both identities continue to predominate institutionally.

“When we talk about the Latinas in the workforce, we speak of this group as a monolith. That does not do justice to the unique and diverse experience of being a Hispanic woman in the workforce in the United States,” the report says. “‘Hispanic’ generally refers to people from countries where Spanish is spoken and ‘Latina’ to a woman from Latin America, by birth or ancestry,” the document attempts to explain.

The participation rate in the labor market of spanish women in the United States it is 61% and unemployment is 7.2 percent. Venezuelan (67%), Peruvian (66.2%) or Colombian (65.9%) women will outnumber that labor force and there are more Mexican (7.8%), Guatemalan (7.8%) or Salvadoran (7.5%) unemployed workers.

But Spanish female workers have higher percentages of employment in managerial and professional positions (49%) and lower in service jobs (16%), not only compared to Latin American women, but also to the female population in general.

“Latinas are overrepresented in service occupations, which employ around 27.5%” of female workers in countries from Chile to Mexico, “compared to 19% of all women.” But Central American women are “especially likely to be employed” in these activities.

According to the report, the 29% of Mexican occupies a managerial or professional position and almost the same percentage, 28%, is dedicated to a service job. 22% of women of Guatemalan origin who traveled looking for the American dream, or who previously did so with her family, were hired as managers and 38% in a service position.

Eleanor Delamater’s report indicates that the service industry It is the one that pays the lowest wages. “This may also explain why Latinas saw huge increases in unemployment rates at the start of the pandemic and why their unemployment remained elevated in 2021.”