Tapestry Hosts Hispanas Organized for Political Equality (HOPE) for Second Annual NYC Latina History Day

Last week Tapestry hosted the second Latina History Day in New York City at the company's Hudson Yards headquarters. We welcomed over 100 Latinx/e leaders from the private and public sector. This year’s event was particularly notable as HOPE, a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization committed to ensuring political and economic parity for Latinas through leadership, advocacy, and education to benefit all communities and the status of women, announced the release of Economic Status of Latinas report which was, in part, funded by the Tapestry Foundation.

The report lays out how Latinas in New York State are faring, and the conditions that impact their ability to thrive economically as the COVID-19 pandemic emergency comes to a close while its effects linger and the nation hovers on the brink of a recession. The findings illustrate how deeply Latinas suffered and adapted during the early parts of the pandemic. Latina professionals offer a more intimate look into how they are overcoming barriers to their success and their hopes for their future as they deal with inflation in the post-pandemic recovery. Despite population shifts, uneven educational outcomes, ongoing wage and leadership inequities and persistent reports of burnout, Latinas reveal that their enduring optimism reported in previous HOPE and other research remains one of their greatest assets to overcoming adversity.

The day was also marked by the governor’s proclamation of May 4 as New York Latina History Day.

Key research findings include: 

• Latinas in the state of New York were 10% of the total population and nearly 20% of the population of women in 2021. One in every four women in New York City is a Latina.
• While New York experienced a slight population decline, the Hispanic population continues to increase.

Persistent pay gap with regional disparities 

• Latinas in New York were paid only 58 cents for every dollar earned by a White, non-Hispanic man in 2021, compared to 82 cents for White women.
• Latinas in New York City earned only 45 cents for every dollar earned by a White man, down 2 cents from 2010.
• In Manhattan (New York County) Latinas earn only 36 cents— a wage gap of 64 cents with White men.

Some progress for Latina high-income earners and employment rates

• In New York, the percentage of Latinas earning more than $100,000 doubled from 2% to 4% between 2019 and 2021. (The figure rose at the national level from 1% to 3%.)
• The unemployment rate for Latinas in New York dropped to 5.5% in 2022, an improvement from 14.4% in 2020.

Entrepreneurship thrives among Latinas

• Latina-owned employer businesses in New York generated nearly 34,000 jobs with an annual payroll of $1.2 billion, demonstrating their notable rates of entrepreneurial participation.
• The number of Latina-owned employer businesses in New York grew 11% between 2018 and 2020.

Educational attainment and barriers

• The Latina public high school graduation rate in New York has steadily increased to 86% in 2022, narrowing the gap with the graduation rate for White women (94%) to its lowest level ever.
• The percentage of Hispanic students (24.7%) who took at least one AP course was almost half that of White students (43.5%).
• In New York 25.7% of all Latinas have a bachelor’s or post-graduate degree, higher than the national rate of 21.6%.

Download the full report and learn more about HOPE here: https://www.latinas.org/