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the portion of migrants under the temporary protected status (TPS) dropped from 32 percent in 1998 to 3 percent in 2006.20 Temporary protection status is explained in Box 1.3. The type of job for migrants relates to age and length of stay in the United States. According to the ACS 2007, 74.7 percent of total Honduran migrants (civilian, ages 16 or above) are the economically active migrants (labor force) in the United States; of these, approximately 70 percent are employed workers. The U.S. construction sector21 employs 30.4 percent of Honduran labor force (47.9 percent of the Honduran male workforce); and the services occupations absorb 30.1 percent of the labor force (47 percent of the female workforce). Compared to other Central American migrants, Hondurans are the single most dependent migrant group in the U.S. construction industry, making them vulnerable to the sector’s volatile dynamic as experienced in the 2008 economic crisis. Only 18 percent of Hondurans, 22 years and older, work in medium and high skilled labor jobs.22 Since the majority of Honduran migrants are young people, an important issue is raised for policy makers regarding the link between migration and the incentives to obtain a better education in the United States. According to the ACS 2007, the per capita income of a Honduran migrant in the United States is US$14,585. In comparison to Mexican, Salvadorans, and Guatemalans, a majority of Honduran migrants earn similar income, but have poorer social security and more households below the poverty threshold (23 percent), particularly among female run migrant households (43 percent of total).23 Only 5.8 percent of all migrants receive income with social security benefits, and 63 percent of Hondurans in the United States do not have any health insurance (the highest rate among all migrant groups in the United States).24 Box 1.3. Temporary Protected Status Temporary protected status is granted to eligible nationals of designated countries. In 1990, as part of the Immigration Act of 1990, the U.S. Congress established a procedure by which the Attorney General may provide temporary protected status to immigrants in the United States when they are temporarily unable to safely return to their home country because of ongoing armed conflict, environmental disaster, or other extraordinary and temporary conditions. The table below illustrates those countries whose nationals in the United States benefit from temporary relief from deportation. Country
Status
Date
Burundi
TPS
November 4, 1997–May 2, 2009
El Salvador Honduras Liberia Nicaragua Somalia
TPS TPS TPS TPS TPS
March 2, 2001–September 9, 2010 December 30, 1998–July 5, 2010 March 27, 1991–March 31, 2009 December 30, 1998–July 5, 2010 September 16, 1991–September 17, 2006
Sudan
TPS
November 4, 1997–November 2, 2007
Numbers in 2006 30 248,282 81,875 3,792 4,309 324 648
Sources: Immigration Daily (www.ilw.com); U.S. Citizen and Immigration Service (www.uscis.gov).
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