By Laura Gorham
When it comes to undocumented workers, most Floridians envision farm workers and roofers – and not the maids, dishwashers and janitors that are actually more prevalent, according to new research.
Eighty-four percent of Floridians surveyed by the UF/IFAS Center for Public Issues Education reported that they believe most undocumented immigrants work in the agricultural and outdoor labor industries.
However, the recent public opinion survey found that many Floridians were largely unaware of undocumented immigrants working in professions outside of outdoor and agricultural industries. The survey defined undocumented immigrants as “foreign nationals residing in the U.S. without legal immigration status…resulting from someone entering the country without permission or remaining in the U.S. after a legal visa expires.”
PIE Center researchers conducted an online survey with 507 respondents to highlight what residents in Florida think about the state of immigration and issues surrounding undocumented immigration. The survey results are coming out while the U.S. Senate is in the process of developing an immigration reform bill, the first time the Senate has taken up immigration in the past six years.
In the survey, respondents reported they believed most undocumented immigrants worked in outdoor labor (49 percent), agriculture (35 percent), hospitality (6 percent), indoor labor (3 percent), trade contractors (3 percent), warehousing (2 percent), amusement (1 percent) and others (2 percent).
According to the Pew Hispanic Center, service or hospitality occupations employed 31 percent of undocumented immigrants in the United States, whereas farm labor and construction occupations accounted for 23 percent of the undocumented immigrants.
“In our study, only six percent thought that undocumented immigrants worked in the hospitality industry, and that is one of the industries where we know that there are a lot of immigrant workers,” PIE Center director Tracy Irani said.
Irani stated that public misperceptions on occupations of undocumented immigrants might be the result of media influence.
“There has been news coverage about immigrants working in outdoor labor, and there’s maybe not as much news coverage that may relate to immigrants working in other industries,” Irani said.
This research was designed to provide an overall understanding of what residents in Florida think about the state of immigration and issues surrounding undocumented immigration.
The PIE Center will conduct four public opinion trend panels each year that focus on key issues in Florida, such as water quantity and quality, immigration, endangered species and food production. The surveys will repeat annually to track changes in public opinion over time.
