Dominicans in Puerto Rico emigrate due to poverty

SANTO DOMINGO- The severe economic crisis It is affecting Puerto Rico has been cause a Exodus for the Dominican population resident in that country, who went from 69,683 in 2010 toy a 58,352 in 2021, for one reduction of 16% in the last decade, according to research presented in the Instituto Tecnológico de Santo Domingo (INTEC).

This is what the study reveals Quisqueya in Borinquen: A Socioeconomic Profile of the Dominican Population in Puerto Rico, 2023, of the Institute for Dominican Studies at the City University of New York (CUNY) conducted by researchers ramona hernandez, director of the Institute; Francisco Rivera Batiz, professor of the Columbia University in New York, and Sidie Sisay, researcher at the Institute.

The investigation shows that the economy of Puerto Rico from 2005 onwards stagnated due to decades of mismanagement in public administration, hurricanes, earthquakes, and the COVID-19 pandemic, in contrast to the growth it had in the period from 1985 to 2005.

Given the circumstances, the 51.4% of Dominicans lived in households with income below the poverty level during the period from 2016 to 2020, compared to 44% for that country overall. The report indicates that, two decades earlier, poverty among the Dominican population was significantly more low than that of the general population and that, in the past decade, Dominicans residing in Puerto Rico had an annual per capita income equal or superior to those of the general population of that country.

"Dominicans migrated to Puerto Rico looking for better jobs and living conditions, and this worked for a number of years, but things have changed, and the economic situation has become much more difficult in the last decade," said Hernández, co-author. of the study and a sociologist at City College of CUNY.

According to the results of the study, the per capita annual income of the Dominicans it was of U.S. dollar 11,245 on average over the period of 2016-2020, compared to $13,519 among the general population of Puerto Rico during that same period.

Likewise, the findings show that the socioeconomic indicators of poverty and low wages, which were lower than the rest of the population of the neighboring country in the past, are now higher. 

Dominican woman in Puerto Rico between unemployment and low wages

The situation in the neighboring country represents one of crisis for families headed by separated or divorced women, as well as single women with children, populations that when added together constitute close to a third of the Dominican population. According to the report, on average, for the period 2016 to 2020, 62.3% of the Dominican population living in female-headed households were poor, compared to 51.4% for the overall Dominican population.

The study showed high poverty in households headed by women is the result not only of the economic gap that exists in general between the Dominican population and the rest of the country, but also of the large wage and employment gap based on gender.

“Unemployment among Dominican women is significantly higher than for men; and their salaries are substantially lower. And this occurs despite the fact that Dominican women have a higher average level of formal education than men”, reflects the study.

As a consequence of the high poverty among households headed by women, greater child and youth poverty is derived since 75.9% of the Dominican population aged 17 or less lived in poverty on average during the period from 2016 to 2020 , which is almost 20 percentage points higher than for the general population in Puerto Rico.

Despite the discouraging facts evidenced in the study, Puerto Rico's economy is expected to recover in the coming years, boosted by the end of the government's bankruptcy process and a massive influx of what is estimated to be $100,000 billion. in federal funds associated with assigned projects.

At the same time, the recovery of employment is glimpsed and the forecast is for a growing shortage of workers in construction, commerce and services, sectors in which Dominicans have participated actively in the past.

Despite the educational gap found by the study, it is also shown that there has been significant progress in the educational field of Dominicans because the number of women who have completed one or more years of university increased from 24.1% to 37.6. % from 2016 to 2020; while Dominican men went from 23 to 30%.

"Combined with the recovery of the demand for work on the island, the increase in the education of the Dominican population could lead to a shot in their socioeconomic situation; the last 15 years have been difficult, but within uncertainty a change of direction it seems to be out in the open,” concluded Professor Rivera-Batiz, study co-author and economist at Columbia University in New York.

The activity was led by the rector of INTEC, Julio Sánchez Maríñez; The deans of the academic areas of that university were present, as well as the rector of Unibe, Odile Camilo-Vicent, and Professor Pedro Castellanos, from the Area of ​​Health Sciences.