Unauthorized workers excluded from $2T rescue package

About 8 million persons unauthorized to work in the U.S. fill jobs. Maybe 50% of them work for employers through formal payrolls, as opposed to for cash. The rescue package does not recognize either the formal payroll or the cash workers.

This means in effect that 15% of farm workers, 13% of construction workers, and 8% of hospitality workers will not benefit from the program.

We can estimate the formal payroll workers through the volume of persons working with Individual Taxpayer Identification Numbers (ITIN), plus a generous number working with some someone else’s social security number. In 2010, 3 million federal tax returns were filed with ITINs.

In 1996, the Internal Revenue Service created the ITIN to provide a way for noncitizens who earn income in the United States, including legally-present noncitizens who do not have Social Security numbers, to pay taxes on money earned in the United States while not being technically employed by a U.S employer. The vast majority are unauthorized workers.

3/29/30. Update with more information from the American Immigration Council
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