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A note from EPI’s Kirstyn Flood: House cleaners, in-home child care workers, and home care aides are on the front lines of the coronavirus pandemic. Domestic workers, many of whom are black and Hispanic women, are three times as likely to live in poverty as other workers, despite risking their health each day. Existing labor protections exclude domestic workers, who often have little to no benefits and who can’t properly social distance without losing income. Recent analyses from EPI dive into the demographics of these workers and what is needed to protect them.
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New EPI research finds that the United States’ 2.2 million domestic workers are underpaid, are more likely to live in poverty than other workers, and are unprotected by U.S. labor law. These domestic workers are the professionals who are caring for children, supporting older individuals and people with disabilities, and helping households stay clean. This chartbook, through 19 charts and 13 tables, provides a comprehensive look at not only who domestic workers are and where they live, but also their economic vulnerability—their wage, income, benefit, and poverty levels relative to workers in other occupations.
Key findings include:
- The vast majority (91.5%) of domestic workers are women and just over half are black, Hispanic, or Asian American/Pacific Islander women.
- Though most (64.9% of) domestic workers are U.S.-born, they are more likely than other workers to have been born outside the U.S. and they tend to be older than other workers.
- The typical domestic worker is paid $12.01 per hour. Even when compared with demographically similar workers, domestic workers on average are paid just 74 cents for every dollar that their peers make.
- Domestic workers are three times as likely to be living in poverty as other workers.
- Fewer than one in 10 domestic workers are covered by an employer-provided retirement plan and just one in five receives health insurance coverage through their job. Read the chartbook »
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Domestic workers are underpaid and unprotected by labor law
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EPI State Economic Analyst Julia Wolfe explains how domestic workers—home care aides, house cleaners, nannies, and others who work in private homes—have been devastated by the coronavirus pandemic. They are experiencing staggering job loss, health risks, and a lack of basic protections under U.S. labor law. And it’s a problem that disproportionately affects women, immigrants, and people of color. Watch the video »
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The coronavirus pandemic is placing the nation’s 2.2 million domestic workers—91.5% of whom are women—in a particularly precarious position. Steep declines in work are leading to a devastating loss of income, while a lack of protective equipment for those who still work is a real threat to their health. EPI’s Julia Wolfe urges policymakers to increase protections for domestic workers during the pandemic and address the exceptions to existing labor protections that have long placed domestic workers at risk in the workplace. Read the blog post »
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Join authors William A. Darity Jr. and A. Kirsten Mullen on May 27 at 2:00 p.m. ET / 11:00 a.m. PT for a discussion of From Here to Equality: Reparations for Black Americans in the Twenty-First Century. Through their assessment of the intergenerational effects of white supremacy on black economic well-being, Darity and Mullen confront the injustices of slavery, Jim Crow, and modern-day discrimination to make the most comprehensive case to date for economic reparations for U.S. descendants of slavery. EPI Director of the Program on Race, Ethnicity, and the Economy (PREE) Valerie Wilson will moderate the discussion. Register for the event »
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EPI President Thea Lee will join a panel of experts on May 27 at 6:00 p.m. MT / 8:00 p.m. ET for a discussion of life after the economic crisis. In addition to Lee, the panel features Robert Pollin, co-director of the Political Economy Research Institute, and Noam Chomsky, renowned linguist, historian, and philosopher, discussing their projections of how the crisis will unfold in the months and years to come. This webinar is a part of the Just Transition Listening Project, launched by the Labor Network for Sustainability and partners. Register for the event »
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The current public health and economic crisis has affected older people—especially older people of color and those who were already poor before the crisis began—in a disproportionate and unprecedented way. Their health, work, and savings are all at a higher risk of decline than other groups in the labor market. EPI President Thea Lee will moderate a panel of experts on May 28 at 2:00 p.m. ET/ 11:00 a.m. PT, including Kilolo Kijakazi, institute fellow at the Urban Institute; Monique Morrissey, economist at the Economic Policy Institute; Richard Johnson, senior fellow at the Urban Institute; and Teresa Ghilarducci, labor economist at ReLab at The New School. Register for the event »
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Watch recent EPI webinars
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In this online event hosted by EPI on May 13, former U.S. Secretary of Labor Robert Reich discussed his new book, The System: Who Rigged It, How We Fix It. In the book, Reich, an Economic Policy Institute founder, explores America’s power system, which he says is designed to bail out corporations rather than people—even in times of crisis. Corporations and the wealthy few benefit from what he calls a socialism for the rich—in which they hold nearly all of the country’s economic and political power—while everyone else is left to endure the harsh realities of capitalism. Watch the video »
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Economist Anne Case and Nobel Prize winner Angus Deaton discussed their book, Deaths of Despair and the Future of Capitalism, at an online event earlier this month. This disturbing and eye-opening book is among the first to unearth a shocking increase in what are known as “deaths of despair”—including suicides, drug overdoses, and alcoholism—among middle-aged white Americans. Watch the video »
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EPI Senior Economist Elise Gould discussed the unemployment rate for Hispanic women—many of whom work in sectors that have been hit hard by recent job loss—on Marketplace Morning Report. | Latinas Among Those Hit Hardest by COVID-19 Job Losses
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The coronavirus pandemic has had an impact on many Tennessee families. But one sector of the community has been hit especially badly—domestic workers. Read more »
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EPI News: Domestic Workers: Underpaid and Unprotected
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