Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, workers in certain industries in the Washington, DC and Baltimore, Maryland metro areas have been critical to keeping the area’s residents healthy and safe, and keeping the economy open. Many of these “essential workers” are foreign born. In fact, immigrant workers have been important during the pandemic, and will continue to play a key role in rebuilding the economy post-pandemic.
The IIR examined the essential industries in the Washington, DC and Baltimore metro areas and created Immigrant Stories five categories with the highest numbers of foreign-born workers:
Scientific Research and Development Photo Credit: Canva | Retail Photo Source: Canva |
Construction Photo Credit: Canva | Transportation Photo Credit: Canva |
Health Care and Social Assistance Photo Credit: Mason Creative Services |
These categories were created based on information from the Migration Policy Institute as well as the Executive Orders issued by the Governors of Virginia and Maryland and the Mayor of Washington, DC at the beginning of the public health emergency.
The Essential Worker Immigrant Stories include fact sheets and analysis of the data on foreign-born essential workers in the Washington, DC and Baltimore metro areas as well as interviews with immigrant workers.
The data is from the American Community Survey 2014-2018 5-year dataset.
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