Giving Compass' Take:

• Aaron Klein and Ariel Gelrud Shiro, at Brookings, explain why the U.S. must reform policies that currently exclude hard-hit Latinx families from COVID-19 relief packages.

• What can you do to support policy-level change that supports Latinx families during the pandemic? How critical is it to make sure your giving supports equitable response efforts for displaced workers during this time?

• Watch a video about how important it is to listen to Latinx voices throughout COVID-19 recovery.

When COVID-19 struck there was no way to avoid a major blow to Latino workers and families. Latinos comprised about one out of every six (16%) workers before the recession, but their share varies largely by industry. Latinos make up more than one in four (27%) workers in construction, over one in five (22%) in leisure and hospitality, and nearly one in five (19%) in mining and oil extraction. This explains much of the growth in the unemployment gap between Latino and white workers; a gap that is nearly three times what it was at the beginning of the year.

At the same time, the industries that have fared the best during the COVID-19 crisis are those with low shares of Latino workers. For example, finance has essentially experienced no job loss in the COVID-19 recession (99.5% of all prior jobs remain intact), but only 1 in 9 workers in the industry are Latino. Similarly, the information industry has lost about 11% of its jobs, but only 1 in 10 workers are Latino.

The Treasury Department notably denied eligibility for stimulus payments to those who are married to immigrants lacking social security numbers and to children with a non-citizen parent. Denying these families access to the $1,200 per adult and $500 per qualifying child disproportionately hurts Latino families who are already facing greater economic hardship in this recession.

The Treasury Department should immediately overturn this decision on the basis of both economic logic and fairness. The House of Representatives has proposed this change in the HEROES Act, providing benefits to an additional 3.5 million children and 4.3 million tax-paying adults. Children should not be punished for their parents’ place of birth, especially as many of them are going hungry.

Read the full article about hard-hit Latinx workers and families during COVID-19 by Aaron Klein and Ariel Gelrud Shiro at Brookings.