Insights and Analyses

• In 2021, 15% of California's immigrants were employed in the retail trade industry, 13% in the other services (except public administration) industry, and 9% in the health services industry.

• Statewide, in 2021, 21% of undocumented workers were employed in the retail trade industry, 15% in the agriculture industry, and 14% in the construction industry.

• Despite their participation in the workforce, immigrants are often victims of wage theft and other labor violations, especially those that are undocumented, oftentimes due to fear of deportation and unemployment. In January 2023, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced their enhanced policy to allow undocumented workers who were victims of, or witnesses to, workplace violations, to apply for deferred action—protecting them from deportation. In response, in July 2023, Governor Newsom launched a $4.5 million pilot program to provide free legal assistance to undocumented farmworkers filing claims of wage theft or other labor violations.

• California relies heavily on immigrant labor as high proportions of immigrants work in essential industries. During the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, immigrant workers often risked their livelihood in jobs deemed “essential” while others were facing precarious employment as shutdowns led to mass layoffs. Indeed, immigrants made up a significant share of workers thus playing a critical role in the food supply chain—between 2017 and 2021, immigrants represented 21% of workers in the U.S. food supply industry (excluding restaurant workers).

• Immigrant healthcare workers also played a critical role in battling the COVID-19 pandemic, many of whom were bilingual and could reach vulnerable communities with limited English proficiency. The Migration Policy Institute notes that moving forward, trends in immigration, education, and healthcare signal that the demand for immigrants in the health sector will only increase. In 2021, across California, immigrants composed 35% of all healthcare workers.

• In the Los Angeles area, among recipients of CIELO’s Undocu-Indigenous Fund—which began in 2020 as a response to the needs of Indigenous Migrant communities during the COVID-19 pandemic—44% of respondents noted that at least one of their family members worked in the restaurant industry. Pandemic-related disruption of restaurant work, as well as the garment sector, domestic work, and laundering services drastically impacted Indigenous Migrant communities in Los Angeles.

The nail salon industry, largely owned and serviced by Asian immigrant and refugee workers, is one of the many service sectors where labor, health, and safety issues persist—challenges that were exacerbated during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The UCLA Labor Center’s recent 2024 report, in partnership with the California Healthy Nail Salon Collaborative, profiles the state’s nail salon industry and the financial insecurity that workers continue to face. Their report shows that the number of nail salon workers had almost tripled between 2010–2020 to about 32,000, though an estimated 127,480 manicurists currently licensed across the state. The majority of nail salon workers identify as Asian, women, and immigrant. The top countries of birth among nail salon workers in 2021 were Vietnam, China, Philippines, Mexico, and India. Many are also likely to be between the ages of 45–60. Further, nail salon workers made less than the minimum wage: the average median hourly wage for all nail salon workers in California in 2021 was $10.94, and over 80 percent of workers in the industry are considered low-wage workers, earning less than $17.08 per hour.

Their series of reports also detailed how workers were impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. At the height of the pandemic and shelter-in-place orders, nail salons were forced to close for much of 2020–2021. Upon reopening, salons faced new challenges: fewer customers, slow business, and COVID-19 safety measures that required a reduction in staff along with expenditures on ventilation upgrades, plexiglass, and more. These challenges meant fewer available work hours for nail salon workers and a reduction in their earnings, all compounded by the fact that most nail salon workers did not receive hazard pay for their work throughout the pandemic. During this period, about 57 percent of nail salon workers reported struggling to pay for basic necessities, and about 48 percent reported needing to get food from a food bank since the start of the pandemic.

Previous reports by the UCLA Labor Center and the Collaborative have also emphasized the variety of health and safety work issues that persist in the nail salon industry: workers are exposed to hazardous chemicals that have been linked to reproductive harm, cancer, respiratory issues, and more. Their 2018 report had previously revealed that exposure to hazardous chemicals and inadequate ventilation systems for eight to ten hours every workday, led to adverse health issues (respiratory issues, chronic pains, miscarriages, etc.)—issues that were exacerbated by the COVID-19.

In response to these job-related health issues, groups like Asian Health Services, an Oakland-based community clinic, established the California Healthy Nail Salon Collaborative. Since 2005, the collaborative continues to advocate for better health, safety, and working conditions in the nail salon industry. Read the most recent report by the UCLA Labor Center and the Collaborative here. Read an article by The New Yorker on the realities of working in the nail salon industry during the pandemic.

Photo credit: Joanne Kim, Capital & Main

Resources

• Organizations: 

  • Economic Roundtable

  • National Skills Coalition

  • Solidarity Economics

  • UCLA Labor Center

• Reports:

  • COVID-19’s Effects on U.S. Immigration and Immigrant Communities, Two Years On

  • A Survey of Nail Salon Workers and Owners in California During COVID-19

  • Toward a Just and Equitable Central Coast

  • Reopening During COVID-19: The Experience of Nail Salon Workers and Owners in California

  • Immigrant and Other U.S. Workers A Year Into the Pandemic: A Focus on Top Immigrant States

  • Immigrants’ U.S. Labor Market Disadvantage in the COVID-19 Economy: The Role of Geography and Industries of Employment

  • Hungry At The Table: White Paper on Grocery Workers At The Kroger Company

  • Fast-Food Frontline: COVID-19 and Working Conditions in Los Angeles

  • Working Under COVID-19: Experiences of Nail Salon Workers in California, New York, Pennsylvania & New Jersey

  • Essential Stories: Black Worker COVID-19 Economic Health Impact Survey

• Articles: 

  • Working-age Hispanics at highest risk of dying from COVID-19, so far

  • Immigrants in U.S. Experienced Higher Unemployment in the Pandemic But Have Closed the Gap