Download the full report: “Domestic Workers Are Essential Workers: By the Numbers in New York”
Throughout the coronavirus crisis domestic workers have been placed under a double pressure. Already underpaid, many have lost their jobs, or lost hours on the job, putting them under added financial stress. Even when on the job, however, domestic workers find themselves under added physical and psychological stress, acting as essential workers during a pandemic at some risk to their own health as they protect the health of others. Domestic workers include house cleaners, nannies, and home care aides who care for people with disabilities or who are elderly or infirm.
There are 328,000 domestic workers in New York, the majority of whom work in New York City (71 percent) followed by Northern/Western New York (12 percent), Long Island (7 percent), Lower Hudson Valley (6 percent), Capital Region (3 percent), and Mid-Hudson Valley (2 percent). Some of these regions represent a larger share of the population relative to other regions in the state. The map below reflects the number of domestic workers per capita. New York City has 48 domestic workers per 1,000 people living in the city, a far higher proportion than other parts of the state, with the next-highest per capita share in the Lower Hudson Valley (14 domestic workers per 1,000 in the population). (See Map.)
By: Shamier Settle
Shamier Settle is a Policy Analyst at the Fiscal Policy Institute
Download the full report: “Domestic Workers Are Essential Workers: By the Numbers in New York”
The Fiscal Policy Institute is a nonpartisan, nonprofit research and education organization committed to improving public policies and private practices to better the economic and social conditions of all. FPI’s Immigration Research Initiative looks at immigration issues in New York State, and around the country.
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