Latinos are recognized as workers who are likely to hold jobs with low wages, insufficient benefits and dangerous working conditions. Below are major issues that explain the inequality disparity Latinos face on the job.
Many Latino workers are concentrated in occupations that are subject to violations. Some of these violations include but are not limited to.
- Wage theft
- Sexual harassment in the workplace
- Youth employment violations
- Unsafe work environments
Millions of Latino workers continue their work without the protection of federal labor laws. These work professions are subjected the most to labor law violations.
- United Small business workers
- Agricultural workers
- Undocumented workers
- Domestic/household workers
The graph highlights the occupational disparities between Latina women and the broader female population in the U.S. in 2021, showing a higher concentration of Latina women in service roles and a lower presence in management and professional occupations compared to all U.S. women.
Latino workers are often in essential but high-risk jobs, leading to higher COVID-19 infection rates. Challenges like language barriers and fear of retaliation exacerbate safety issues and discourage reporting.
This graph shows the trend of occupational fatalities among U.S. workers by race and ethnicity, highlighting that Latinos, who are significantly overrepresented in high-risk jobs like truck driving and construction, faced the highest fatality rates from 2011 to 2020.