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With the COVID-19 pandemic re-escalating, the deep structural inequities plaguing our society are being drawn into clearer focus. By way of illustration, the pandemic has exposed and magnified the vulnerabilities that directly affect the seven million low- and moderate-income (LMI) immigrant households living in the United States, and the 8.1 million LMI immigrant workers in the U.S. labor force.
A brief released today by Prosperity Now, “The Fragile Financial Stability of Immigrant Households in Light of COVID-19”, provides an overview of the structural barriers that have made LMI immigrant households particularly vulnerable to the public health and economic crises precipitated by the COVID-19 pandemic, including:
- The concentration of foreign-born workers in industries that pay lower wages, on average, and have been particularly hard-hit by both the virus itself and the economic crisis.
- Limited access to federal benefits and other safety net programs, low-cost and high-quality credit and high-quality social networks.
- An insufficient government response to the financial plight of LMI immigrants in the immediate aftermath of the crisis.
- No pathway to legal status available to many.
The pandemic has shown that excluding large segments of the population from accessing financial and other basic needs and supports is not only unethical but antithetical to sustaining a prosperous economy and society.
Please pay attention to this space in the coming weeks as Prosperity Now continues to push for an equitable and humane response to the COVID-19 public health and economic crises. And don’t forget to register for this fall’s Prosperity Summit, where you can sign up for a session going into further detail about the barriers preventing LMI immigrant households from accessing financial stability.
