Domestic Workers Working Hard to Sustain American Families, Compromising Their Social Security

Author:	Luisa Grillo-Chope and Carlos Ramos
Contact:	Luisa Grillo-Chope
Date:	Aug 31, 2006
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Topics:	Community and Family Wealth-Building, Employment and Economic Opportunities
Policies:	Protecting Assets and Wealth, Social Security Reform

Summary

Labor Day is an important opportunity to recognize the important contributions of Latinos to the workforce and highlight ways in which public policy can improve the ability and the opportunity of Latino workers to succeed and prosper. Policy experts and the Congress grappled with Social Security reform last year. But the debate left out many Latino workers by failing to talk about the need of workers to gain better access to social insurance. With each paycheck, workers make their Social Security contributions, earning credits for retirement or in the event of disability or death. However, workers in the informal sector, a sector with a high concentration of Latinos, may encounter specific barriers in accessing and participating in social insurance. One such group of workers who work informally and face such challenges is domestic workers.