How we did this

For this report, we analyzed trends in unemployment rates among U.S. Hispanics as well as how Hispanics view the national economy and their personal financial situations both amid the coronavirus outbreak and prior to COVID-19.

Estimates of the unemployment rate are from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. The bureau has noted that the official unemployment rate likely understated the actual state of unemployment in March, April, May and June 2020. The understatement was greater for women, immigrants and several other groups, according to a Pew Research Center analysis.

For Hispanics’ views amid the coronavirus outbreak, we drew primarily on a June 2020 survey of U.S. adults – see here and here for more – and an April 2020 survey of U.S. adults. Both drew on Pew Research Center’s American Trends Panel (ATP), an online survey panel that is recruited through national, random sampling of residential addresses.

For Hispanic views from before COVID-19, we drew on the Center’s National Survey of Latinos, which surveyed 3,030 U.S. Hispanic adults in December 2019. This includes 2,094 Hispanic adults who were members of the ATP. It also includes an oversample of 936 respondents sampled from Ipsos’ KnowledgePanel, another online survey panel also recruited through national, random sampling of residential addresses. The survey was conducted in both English and Spanish.

Recruiting panelists by phone or mail ensures that nearly all U.S. adults have a chance of selection. This gives us confidence that any sample can represent the whole population (see our Methods 101 explainer on random sampling), or in this case, the whole U.S. Hispanic population. To further ensure that this survey reflects a balanced cross-section of the nation’s Hispanic adults, the data is weighted to match the U.S. Hispanic adult population by gender, nativity, Hispanic origin group, education and other categories. Read more about the ATP’s methodology.

Here are the questions used for the report from the National Survey of Latinos, along with responses, and its methodology.

Terminology

The terms Hispanic and Latino are used interchangeably in this report.

The term U.S. born refers to people who are U.S. citizens at birth, including people born in the 50 U.S. states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico or other U.S. territories, as well as those born elsewhere to at least one parent who is a U.S. citizen.

The terms foreign born and immigrant are used interchangeably in this report. They refer to people who are not a U.S. citizen at birth – in other words, those born outside the U.S., Puerto Rico or other U.S. territories and whose parents are not U.S. citizens.

The coronavirus outbreak has significantly harmed the finances of U.S. Hispanics. As the nation’s economy contracted at a record rate in recent months, the group’s unemployment rate rose sharply, particularly among Hispanic women, and remains higher among Hispanic workers than U.S. workers overall. With Hispanic households absorbing lost jobs and wages, many have said they may not be able to pay their bills. Yet even before the outbreak, Hispanics were concerned about their economic situation despite near record low levels of unemployment through the end of 2019.

As the United States locked down amid COVID-19, the unemployment rate for Hispanics increased from 4.8% in February to a peak of 18.5% in April before dropping to 14.5% in June, nonseasonally adjusted.¹ This exceeds levels from the Great Recession of 2007-2009, when the unemployment rate peaked at 13.9% in January 2010. Hispanic women have experienced an especially steep rise in their unemployment rate, which jumped from 5.5% to 20.5% between February and April 2020.² By comparison, the unemployment rate for Hispanic men rose from 4.3% to 16.9% during this time. In June, the unemployment rate of U.S.-born Hispanics (15.3%) was higher than that of foreign-born Hispanics (13.5%), after the rates for both groups peaked at more than 18% in April.

Latinos say they have had a hard time making ends meet during the outbreak, according to Pew Research Center surveys. About six-in-ten Latinos (59%) in May said they live in households that have experienced job losses or pay cuts due to the coronavirus outbreak, with a far lower share of U.S. adults (43%) saying the same. As Latino incomes dwindled, most in April said they do not have emergency funds to cover three months of expenses, and half or more said they worry daily or nearly every day about financial issues like paying their bills, the amount of debt they carry and the cost of health care.³

Latinos have a bleaker view than the U.S. overall about the coronavirus, according to a June survey of U.S. adults. Among Latinos, 70% say the worst of the problems due to the coronavirus outbreak are still to come, and a similar share said so in an April survey. By comparison, 40% of U.S. adults say the worst of the coronavirus is behind us, up from 26% in April.

Reflecting national trends, Hispanics also hold grim views of the economy, with only 18% rating U.S. economic conditions as excellent or good in June, down from 49% in January. Yet some Hispanics express optimism about the economy’s future. About half of Hispanics (48%) say they expect U.S. economic conditions to be better a year from now, with smaller shares saying they expect conditions to be about the same (28%) or worse (25%). In January, a lower share of Hispanics (35%) said they expected U.S. economic conditions to be better a year from now, while 41% expected them to be about the same and 23% expected them to be worse.

While Americans overall are deeply unhappy with the nation’s direction, satisfaction has dropped more among U.S. adults than Hispanic adults. In June, more Hispanics (20%) than Americans overall (12%) said they were satisfied with how things are going in the country, down from 29% and 31% in April, respectively.

As for the economic prospects of future generations, Hispanics have grown more optimistic about their prospects, though it’s still a minority that hold this view. About one-in-four Hispanics (26%) said life will be better for future generations of Americans, according to the June survey, up from 16% in September 2019.

Hispanics support broad set of proposals for economic aid due to coronavirus

Hispanics say the coronavirus outbreak is among the most serious issue facing the nation, with 70% saying it is very big problem, somewhat comparable with the 60% who said unemployment, according to the June survey. Lower shares of U.S. adults overall said the same about the coronavirus outbreak (58%) and unemployment (50%).

About three-quarters of Latinos (78%) say it will be necessary for Congress to pass another economic relief bill in addition to the $2 trillion economic assistance package passed by Congress in March and signed by President Donald Trump.

When it comes to policies to address economic problems resulting from the coronavirus outbreak, large majorities of Latinos favor every option presented: 90% support preventing evictions and foreclosures on renters and homeowners who have lost jobs or income; 88% support providing financial assistance to state and local governments; 86% support providing additional tax cuts and loans to businesses that keep workers on payroll; 72% support extending the $600-per-week increase in unemployment benefits beyond July 31; and 67% support temporarily cutting workers’ payroll taxes that go toward Social Security and Medicare. U.S. adults support assistance that prevents evictions and foreclosures for individuals (88%) and provides tax cuts and loans for businesses (88%) at similar levels as Hispanics. By contrast, fewer Americans overall favor providing financial assistance for state and local governments (76%), extending unemployment benefits (60%) and cutting workers’ payroll taxes (53%).

Latinos generally favor a more active government. A strong majority (74%) said government should do more to solve problems, while 22% said government is doing too many things that are better left to business or individuals, according to a December survey of U.S. Latinos. By comparison, 55% of U.S. adults in a September 2019 survey said government should do more to solve problems.

Before coronavirus, Latinos said immigration and the economy were the most important problems facing the U.S.

Even before the coronavirus outbreak, Hispanics found themselves on unsteady financial ground, despite near record low levels of unemployment. The Great Recession hit Hispanics particularly hard, and households saw significant declines in wealth and income. The economic recovery was uneven, with some groups faring better than others. By 2017, the median household income for Hispanic immigrants had returned to and exceeded pre-recession levels, while those for the U.S. born still lagged pre-recession levels.

When asked about the most important problem facing the U.S., Hispanics most often cited issues related to immigration (18%) and the economy (17%), according to a December survey of Latino adults. Smaller shares said race relations or racism (10%), health care (7%), dissatisfaction with government or politics (6%), crime (6%), political polarization or national divisions (5%), gun control (5%) and President Donald Trump (5%).

While Hispanic Democrats and Hispanic Republicans both cited immigration and the economy among the most important problems facing the nation, their views differed on Trump. For Hispanic Democrats, Trump (8%) is cited about as often as race relations and racism (11%) as the most important problem facing the country. By contrast, far lower shares of Hispanic Republicans cited Trump (2%) as the nation’s top problem.

Before coronavirus, most Latinos viewed their personal finances in a more negative than positive light

In December 2019, about two-thirds of Hispanics (64%) rated their personal financial situation only fair (45%) or poor (20%), compared with about a third who said good (31%) or excellent (4%).⁴ The share who rated their finances in only fair or poor shape is comparable with the 66% of Hispanics who said so in September 2018, and up from 59% in November 2015.

Latino Democrats and Republicans hold substantially different views. A majority of Democrats (69%) said their financial situation is in only fair or poor shape, compared with about half of Republicans (53%). Latino views also differed by educational attainment, with strong majorities of those who had not completed high school (73%) and high school graduates (68%) saying their finances were in only fair or poor shape, compared with 57% of those with some college education.

Younger Hispanics tended to give their finances lower marks than older Hispanics, though the differences were relatively modest. About two-thirds of Hispanics (68%) ages 18 to 29 said their personal financial situation was in only fair or poor shape, compared with 60% of those ages 50 and older.

Fewer than half of Hispanics (46%) said their children will one day be better off financially than they are, according to the December survey.

More than half of immigrants (54%) said their children will be better off financially than they are, compared with 39% of the U.S. born. Meanwhile, about half of Hispanics ages 30 to 49 (51%) and those 50 and older (47%) said so, compared with 39% of Hispanics ages 18 to 29.

As on many issues, views differed among Hispanics by political party affiliation. Roughly half of Republicans (52%) said their children will be better off financially than they are, compared with 44% of Democrats.

This report was written by Jens Manuel Krogstad, Senior Writer and Editor, and Mark Hugo Lopez, Director of Global Migration and Demography Research.

Editorial guidance was provided by Neil G. Ruiz, Associate Director of Global Migration and Demography Research; and Rakesh Kochhar, Senior Researcher.

The report was number-checked by Luis Noe-Bustamante, Research Analyst. Travis Mitchell, Digital Producer, copy edited and produced the report. Charts were designed by Michael Keegan, Senior Information Graphics Designer, and Jens Manuel Krogstad.

Find related reports online at https://alpha.pewresearch.org/pewresearch-org/hispanic/ and pewresearch.org/pewresearch-org/global.

The American Trends Panel survey methodology

The American Trends Panel (ATP), created by Pew Research Center, is a nationally representative panel of randomly selected U.S. adults. Panelists participate via self-administered web surveys. Panelists who do not have internet access at home are provided with a tablet and wireless internet connection. The panel is being managed by Ipsos.

This report is based on three surveys. Surveys of U.S. adults conducted on June 16 to June 22, 2020, and April 7 to April 12, 2020, used the ATP and include a sample of Hispanics. The third survey, the National Survey of Latinos (NSL), primarily used the ATP and was conducted Dec. 3 to Dec. 23, 2019.

For the NSL, a total of 3,030 panelists responded out of 5,395 who were sampled, a response rate of 56%. This includes 2,094 from the ATP and an oversample of 936 respondents sampled from Ipsos’ KnowledgePanel. The cumulative response rate accounting for nonresponse to the recruitment surveys and attrition is 2.4%. The break-off rate among panelists who logged onto the survey and completed at least one item is 0.4%. The margin of sampling error for the full sample of 3,030 respondents is plus or minus 2.9 percentage points.

The ATP sample for the NSL consisted of all current panel members that previously identified as being Hispanic. For the KnowledgePanel sample, Hispanics who were either born in Mexico or had no more than a high school education were oversampled relative to those who had more than a high-school education and were born outside of Mexico.

The ATP was created in 2014, with the first cohort of panelists invited to join the panel at the end of a large, national, landline and cellphone random-digit-dial survey that was conducted in both English and Spanish. Two additional recruitments were conducted using the same method in 2015 and 2017, respectively. Across these three surveys, a total of 19,718 adults were invited to join the ATP, of which 9,942 agreed to participate.

In August 2018, the ATP switched from telephone to address-based recruitment. Invitations were sent to a random, address-based sample (ABS) of households selected from the U.S. Postal Service’s Delivery Sequence File. In each household, the adult with the next birthday was asked to go online to complete a survey, at the end of which they were invited to join the panel. For a random half-sample of invitations, households without internet access were instructed to return a postcard. These households were contacted by telephone and sent a tablet if they agreed to participate. A total of 9,396 were invited to join the panel, and 8,778 agreed to join the panel and completed an initial profile survey. The same recruitment procedure was carried out on August 19, 2019, from which a total of 5,900 were invited to join the panel and 4,720 agreed to join the panel and completed an initial profile survey. Of the 23,440 individuals who have ever joined the ATP, 15,478 remained active panelists and continued to receive survey invitations at the time this survey was conducted.

The U.S. Postal Service’s Delivery Sequence File has been estimated to cover as much as 98% of the population, although some studies suggest that the coverage could be in the low 90% range.⁵

Weighting

The ATP data was weighted in a multistep process that begins by calibrating the entire panel so that it aligns with the population benchmarks identified in the accompanying table to create a full-panel weight. For ATP waves in which only a subsample of panelists are invited to participate, a wave-specific base weight is created by adjusting the full-panel weights for subsampled panelists to account for any differential probabilities of selection for the particular panel wave. The next step in the weighting uses an iterative technique that aligns the sample to population benchmarks on the dimensions listed in the accompanying table. For this wave, additional weighting parameters were added to adjust for citizenship, years in the U.S., country of birth and Hispanic origin.

Sampling errors and test of statistical significance take into account the effect of weighting. Interviews are conducted in both English and Spanish.

In addition to sampling error, one should bear in mind that question wording and practical difficulties in conducting surveys can introduce error or bias into the findings of opinion polls.

The following table shows the unweighted sample sizes and the error attributable to sampling that would be expected at the 95% level of confidence for different groups in the survey:

Sample sizes and sampling errors for other subgroups are available upon request.

CORRECTION. (September 2020): A previous version of this methodology statement contained an incorrect description of the base weighting for this survey. None of the study findings or conclusions are affected.