In this May 14, 2020 photo, Erendira Martínez and her daughter stand outside their home in the Little Village neighborhood of Chicago. Chicago’s Little Village neighborhood is known as the heart of Mexican culture in the city. It’s also located in the zip code area with one of the highest rates of positive coronavirus cases in the city. Both Martinez and her daughter, along with Martinez’ husband, tested positive for COVID-19. All have since recovered. (AP Photo/Noreen Nasir)
A new report released Tuesday by Pew Research stated that the recent economic impacts from the COVID-19 pandemic has “has significantly harmed the finances of U.S. Hispanics,” adding that unemployment rates for U.S. Latinos exceeded that of the 2007-2009 Great Recession.
“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,” Pew noted.
In addition, Pew noted that (59%) of U.S. Latinos in May said “they live in households that have experienced job losses or pay cuts due to the coronavirus outbreak, with a far lower share of U.S. adults (43%) saying the same.” According to Pew, 70% of U.S. Latinos believe that the “worst is yet to come.”
As for their views of the economy, only 18% of U.S. Latinos rated the nation’s economy as either excellent or good in June. This is close to a 30-point drop from April. Even with this decrease, 48% of U.S. Latinos say they expect economic conditions will better a year from now.
There is also very strong support from U.S. Latinos about COVID-19 economic aid, with 78% saying it will be necessary, as opposed to 71% of the general population.
That trend continues when it comes to specific proposals.
The complete report can be accessed here.
the economy will not bounce back in a year. more like 3-5 years.