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Domestic Workers Still Struggling, Many Jobless Months Into Pandemic

House cleaners, nannies and home care workers across the country continue to face dramatic economic losses months into the coronavirus pandemic, with no relief in sight.

A survey of over 20,000 Spanish-speaking domestic workers in the U.S. by National Domestic Workers Alliance found that more than a third (or 36%) were jobless in mid-September — four times the rate before the pandemic hit (around 9%). At one point in the early months of COVID-19’s spread in the spring, when there were widespread shutterings of businesses and shelter-in-place policies, a peak of 68% of domestic workers reported being without any jobs.

The domestic workers advocacy group NDWA used a chatbot to survey thousands of workers weekly for the first six months of the pandemic, from mid-March to mid-September, reaching largely house cleaners, as well as nannies and home care workers in 48 states and Puerto Rico.

More than half of those surveyed reported being unable to pay rent or their mortgage for six months in a row. More than three-quarters reported being unsure they’d be able to afford food in the coming weeks.

“My employers canceled because of the virus,” Rosa, a house cleaner in New York, said in the group’s report. The single mother, who has a 13-year-old daughter, said she’d gotten no government support. “I am very worried. The amount of debt for rent goes up.”

Coronavirus cases continue to mount across the country, recently reaching a peak of 83,000 new daily cases. The economic effects have been devastating, as the nation’s unemployment rate was at nearly 8% last month, more than twice the pre-pandemic rate.

Congress has yet to pass a new stimulus package — and it remains to be seen if a future one would include undocumented workers, who were left out of the first round of stimulus checks. Less than a third of the domestic workers surveyed had received the $1,200 check.

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