Making Native American Frontline Workers Visible

November 17, 2021

Contact: Karen Conner, 202-281-4159

Washington DC — With today’s release of Recognizing Native American Frontline Workers, the Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR) expands on our previous work to take a closer look at Native American workers in frontline industries.

Researchers Hayley Brown and Shawn Fremstad use the most recent data from the American Community Survey to adapt and expand the industry groupings that made up last year’s demographic profiles of workers in frontline industries.

The analysis finds:

Relative to their share of the workforce as a whole, Native American workers are slightly overrepresented in several frontline industries, most notably in Childcare and Family Services.
Native American workers in frontline industries are much more likely than non-Hispanic, non-Native white frontline workers to live in low-income households and to lack health insurance.
Native American workers in frontline industries are nearly three times as likely as white workers in these industries to be uninsured.

“It is worth reflecting on the lack of visibility afforded to Native American people — including those who have worked on the frontlines of the crisis despite inadequate pay and health care,” said co-author Brown.

For an analysis of Native American income and poverty rates, see Native Americans Need to Be Included in Annual Census Reports on Income and Poverty.