Economist Luis Vargas has presented the findings of research that indicate that 65.12% of Haitian immigrants live in cities, not rural areas. Speaking at the Annual Business and Economy Congress organized by INTEC University yesterday, Wednesday 3 December 2014, he shared information on documentation and wages of Haitian immigrants and Dominican-Haitians in the country.
His findings contradict the belief that most Haitians live in rural areas, and work in farms and construction. He said that most Haitian workers are in commerce (23.4%), farming (19%) and other services (18.66%).
He said that 45.9% of Haitian immigrants have permanent jobs while another 41% have temporary jobs, usually the results of informal contracts.
He said that most of the Haitian population has documents from Haiti (87.5%) but most have not regularized their legal status in the country.
He said his research showed that 486,553 have birth certificates, 276,010 have identity cards and 232,643 have Haitian passports. Another 38,975 have Dominican cedulas and another 17,710 have Dominican passports.