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US Latinos say incomes dwindling amid coronavirus as unemployment remains a major threat: Pew survey

The community, which has struggled to make ends meet, was not to hopeful about their economic situation

Presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden showered praise on the Latino community earlier this week calling it an “incredibly diverse community with incredibly diverse attitudes about different things”. President Donald Trump has also not spared efforts to boost his support among the Latinos and signed an executive order last month to expand employment and educational opportunities among them ahead of the November elections. 

But a survey report released by the Pew Research Center on Tuesday, August 4, said something less-than-hopeful about the community. It has said that the coronavirus outbreak has significantly hit the Latinos economically with the unemployment rate among them rising alarmingly, especially among the women. Joblessness has remained high generally among the Latino workers other than the American workers. Even before the pandemic started, the Latinos were concerned about their economic situation despite very low levels of unemployment through the end of last year.The pandemic has left the American economy in a disarray with several businesses shutting down out of fear of transmission of the disease, leaving millions without a job.

Latino unemployment rate went up to more than 18% in April

“As the United States locked down amid COVID-19, the unemployment rate for Hispanics increased from 4.8% in February to a peak of 18.5% in April before dropping to 14.5% in June, nonseasonally adjusted. This exceeds levels from the Great Recession of 2007-2009, when the unemployment rate peaked at 13.9% in January 2010. Hispanic women have experienced an especially steep rise in their unemployment rate, which jumped from 5.5% to 20.5% between February and April 2020. By comparison, the unemployment rate for Hispanic men rose from 4.3% to 16.9% during this time. In June, the unemployment rate of U.S.-born Hispanics (15.3%) was higher than that of foreign-born Hispanics (13.5%), after the rates for both groups peaked at more than 18% in April,” the Pew report said. 

Studies conducted by Pew have cited the Latinos as saying that they have a hard time making their ends meet during the outbreak. In May, about six-in-10 Latinos said they live in households that have gone through job losses or pay cuts because of the pandemic that has affected nearly five million people in the country. Only 43 percent of adults in the US have said the same. The Latinos also said that with their incomes dwindling, they do not have emergency funds to carry on even for three months and everyday expenses have become a major worry for them. Loans and healthcare concerns have made it even difficult for them. 

In June, 70 percent of the Latinos were of the view that the worst caused by Covid-19 is yet to come, a figure which is not too different from that seen in April. The corresponding figures among America’s adults for June is 40 percent and April is 26 percent. 

Nearly half of the Hispanics expect the economy to improve in a year

The Latino community’s viewpoint on the economy has also been affected. While 49 percent rated the US’s economic conditions as excellent or good in January, it came down to an appalling 18 percent in June. But yet, nearly half of the Latino population (48 percent) expect America’s economic conditions to improve in a year’s time while 28 percent feel they would remain the same. Twenty-five percent say it would be even worse. In January, 35 percent of Latino were expecting the economy to be doing better next year while 41 percent expected them to remain the same. 

Another positive finding that came out of the survey is that more Latino are feeling optimistic about their future prospects. One in four Latinos (26 percent) said life will be better for future generations, which is up from 16 percent in September last year.