What Black Immigrant Domestic Workers Want and Need
What Black Immigrant Domestic Workers Want and Need
Data Points
Data Points
HED: What Black Immigrant Domestic Workers Want and Need
INTRO:
In 2020, more than 800 domestic workers from Massachusetts, Miami-Dade, Florida, and New York, New York responded to our National Domestic Workers Alliance We Dream in Black Domestic Worker Survey and revealed these devastating truths: Black immigrant domestic workers were some of the hardest impacted by the pandemic. In every state surveyed, 70% of Black immigrant domestic workers revealed they had lost their jobs (45%) or received reduced hours and pay (25%).
‘The Other Side of the Storm’ is a follow-up to NDWA’s initial ‘Notes from the Storm’ report, which examined the experiences of Black immigrant domestic workers in Miami, New York, and Massachusetts just as the pandemic hit in 2020. ‘The Other Side of the Storm’ returned to these regions in 2021 and features data and anecdotes from surveys, focus groups, and interviews of more than 1,000 respondents.
DATA:
Black immigrant domestic workers want and need health insurance. Fifty-seven percent (57%) of survey respondents identified health insurance as the benefit they most desire. “Domestic workers deserve to have the same privileges as other workers, like health insurance. A lot of us don’t have that. Everything others get in other professions like health care and paid time off, we should get the same thing.” — Barbara, 60, Nanny, Boston, MA New York City: 56% Massachusetts: 56% Miami: 70%
Caregivers want benefits that allow them to care for themselves and their families, Respondents also see retirement benefits (46%) and paid sick leave and medical leave (44%) as benefits that would make their jobs better. New York City: 56% retirement benefits, 49% paid sick leave and medical leave Massachusetts: 43% retirement benefits, 49% paid sick leave and medical leave Miami: 58% paid sick leave and medical leave, 57% paid time off
When survey respondents were asked what they needed and wanted to make domestic work a good job, they named the following: