Did you know that most immigrant workers made up at least 18.6% of work last year according to Bureau of Labor Statistic data. And yet, still our hard working Latino/a community isn’t getting as much recognition nor being highly valued enough by our society in today’s current world. It is essential to recognize that their contribution and manual labor towards the nation is not being praised enough by our lawmakers. Latino/a workers work in such harsh conditions every day that no other does but them. Such as, working in the outside within the boundaries of construction grounds including agricultural site, manufacturing areas. Despite that still our Latino/a workers put all their dedication and time towards their job and in spite of that they yet some don’t get paid as much as other jobs.
The three main jobs that most Latinos work are in construction sites, agricultural sites, manufacturing areas. These three jobs are the most labor-intensive in nature that involve repetitive, manual tasks. In the demographic shift in the New American Economy. Its seen that at least 51% of Latino workers work in Constructions and Maintenance industries and also about 52% of Latino/a workers in agricultural land. Mainly, Latino/a workers mostly apply for the manual labor jobs because they didn’t receive as much high education back in their home country or occur to be first generation to work in this country. Latino/a workers seek to work on hands on job because they gain more knowledge about the job and pick up the work experience faster.
The difficulties that Latino/a workers face in the workforce is the lack of not being able to maintain a leadership position because some Americans don’t want Latino/a to take over their job. Another reason, may be because they are not able to speak enough sufficient English, as well as the discrimination one may be facing just for only being one of the Latino/a worker in the job. Many undocumented illegal Latino/a immigrants face the fear of being deported or taken away from their families everyday at work especially during this time of era making them worry in fear of their bosses because their labor work is either being taken advantage of or having a gut feeling that their not getting paid fairly enough, which happens way more often than you think especially towards our Latino/a agricultural workers.
Although, some people might think that illegal undocumented Latino/a workers are considered to be “Criminals” and don’t deserve the opportunity to work here in this country they are considered to be the backbone of hard manual work in our society right now. Not all Latino/a are what they are stereotype to be most come this country so their children can get greater much of education than they did back in their home country also coming with hopes with finding more better job opportunities so they can support their families.
For instance Maria Juarez, a mother from Brunswick, states, “I came to this country for the economic well-being and for the well being of my daughters so they could have more better education than I did back in my home and so they could be the first successful generation.” So, its clearly seen that most immigrants come here to the United States for the well-being of their children and to set up the next upcoming generation for success.
Another example is a student in Brunswick Middle School that is the next upcoming first-generation states, “It means a lot to me that mom came to this country so I could live and learn English, also for letting me experience a new kind of life here in this country and giving me the ability to get the best education in this country.” Indicating that most first-generation kids are very grateful for their parents sacrifice for coming here the United States so they could get better education and be successful as an first Latino/a generation.
Ultimately, Latino/a workers play a huge role in this country because they do the most important jobs that are very important to the country and they also do some of the jobs that some Americans don’t want to do while also keeping multiple businesses and communities intact. It’s time for our society to endure and be appreciative of our Latino/a workers because they contribute so much to our society.