The Latinx community of New York City is an integral powerhouse in the city’s economy as their labor is the backbone of the retail and hospitality industry. Following the international pandemic of COVID-19, Latinx women endured the biggest economic losses such as double digit rises in unemployment and poverty rates. This chapter will present and analyze the economic impact of Latinx women from Jackson Heights, Queens pre-COVID the negative economic externalities due to COVID which they endured.
The center of the Latinx community lies in Jackson Heights, Queens. Jackson Heights is a middle class community of approximately 85,000 people in Northern Queens and more than half of its population is foreign born (Kasinitz). Its history is rooted in Italian and Polish immigrants but then is marked by a shift to predominantly Dominican, Ecuadorian, Colombian, and Peruvian immigrants in post 1960 era immigration. The statistical breakdown of the area by ethnicity is, .8% of the population identified as Asian, 6.4% identified as black, 67.3% identified as Hispanic, and 10.2% identified as white. Pictured below is the ethnic mosaic of Jackson Heights and the surrounding area (Fesseden).
The majority of the working population amongst Latina women in Jackson Heights are employed in the restaurant and hospitality industries which were the hardest hit from the pandemic, the net loss being 1 million jobs just within New York. Latina workers experienced the largest increase in unemployment between February and April, an increase of 15.3 percentage points. One in five (20.2%) Latina workers were unemployed in April (Gould). This marks one of the hardest hit communities from covid economically and Jackson Heights suffered immensely from the impact.
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