Latino families have largely recovered from pandemic challenges, new study shows

Majority of Latino families have reportedly bounced back from previous pandemic challenges, primarily by buying homes, creating businesses and making purchases at a greater rate than the rest of the country, a new study by UnidosUS shows.

The results come as Latinos in the U.S. had reportedly been one of the most affected groups in the onset of the pandemic.

With a large segment of Latino workers employed in industries that shut down during the pandemic, including in the food, hotel and retail sectors, Hispanic unemployment spiked to 18.9% in April 2020— a rate well above the white unemployment rate of 14.2%.

Now, by most indicators, the Latino community is better off economically today than at the beginning of the pandemic, due to the combination of government action and the community's hard work and resilience, UnidosUS explains.

"The fact that the Latino community has already largely recovered from the economic blow of COVID is a testament to our community's resilience and the resounding efficacy of the federal emergency and recovery response," said UnidosUS Senior Vice President Eric Rodriguez.

Rodriguez further explains that nearly 70% of Latino voters benefited from at least one federal pandemic relief policy.

The study showed that Hispanic unemployment dropped to 5% in May 2024 and real wages for Latino workers have increased by some 0.9% annually from 2019 to 2023 for middle-wage earners, more than triple the rate of wage growth during the prior 40 years.

Similarly, homeownership levels and median net assets for Latino households are higher than prior to the pandemic.

However, the report warns that some of these successes may be short lived.

For instance, the percentage of Latinos who report they are doing okay financially has dropped to 61% after reaching a high of 71% in 2021. This may be due to a higher cost of living generating deep anxiety and financial stress, particularly among working-class Latinos. Similarly, the report shows that more than a million Latino children fell back into poverty.

"The last five years have shown us how smart public investments can remove unnecessary barriers to opportunity and strengthen both working-class and middle-class communities," said Lisette Orellana Engel, Director of UnidosUS' Economic Policy Project.

"As the federal government prepares to deploy more than a trillion new dollars in the U.S. economy thanks to the Inflation Reduction Act, Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, and CHIPS and Science Act, it is essential that these funds are administered in a way that ensures they reach and benefit the Latino community."

In order to reverse these current trends and prevent Latino families from potentially further sinking into poverty, UnidosUS makes several policy recommendations.

Some of them include restoring the enhanced refundable child tax credit to move more families out of poverty, increasing pell grants and expanding investment in community colleges and public universities, and offering tax incentives for developers and reforming zoning laws to increase the availability and affordability of starter homes.