all work and low pay that's the reality for many Latinas here in New Jersey a new report from Rutgers Center for Women in work finds estate ranks 49th on pay equity for Latinos who make on average 45 cents for every dollar on non-hispanic white man earns and even though Latinas make up nearly 10 percent of the overall Workforce here in the state many are struggling with low wages a lack of Access to Health Care and child care and virtually no time or money to do anything other than work and care for their families Melissa Rose Cooper explains why that is and what life is like for some of New Jersey's lowest paid workers not learning that and not having to speak the language it was tough in school a major challenge Florencia Perez faced after moving to New Jersey from Mexico when she was six years old she eventually learned English graduated from school and is now a mom herself and after being out of a job for the last six years she's ready to get back to work but is now dealing with another obstacle trying to find the right job that has a good hour just so I don't have to be away from my kids and be there for them too yeah because two of them go to school so I have to like manage myself to be there and you know I don't know it it'll be a lot a lot it's just one major hurdle impacting many Latinas across the garden States in their search for gainful Employments according to a new report from the Rutgers Center for Women in work Latinas here face one of the highest wage gaps in the country New Jersey ranking 49th out of all 50 states New Jersey is a leader in a lot of things right and folks really think that we're such a progressive State we have like all these wonderful things happening but two things can be true at once Glenda Gracia Rivera is the lead author of the report she says although Latinas make up about nine percent of some of the state's most essential and Frontline jobs many are struggling to get by only making about 27 to 30 000 a year that's about 45 cents for every dollar a non-hispanic white man and earns but Gracia Rivera says the disparities are worse for Latina immigrants also a lot of the women did face some discriminatory practices and talked to us about that a lot of them talked about English proficiency being a barrier access to child care was a really large barrier and the one thing that did surprise us was Transportation was also a barrier that was cited so we see that these women are clustered in low-wage sectors thus creating the conditions to make the pay Gap that much bigger that's why Gracia Rivera says it's important to have organizations like the Hispanic Women's Resource Center employees at several locations across the states have for years been giving Latinas the tools they need to succeed for example we can have a Hispanic woman that comes here because she wants help finding a job but then when we start doing an intake and talking really about you know what their need and what they're experiencing it might be that they're also facing domestic violence or the are facing house insecurity a lot of different things that you know they might be facing but the program really helps them to like I said become self-sufficient so we help them let's say they want to find a job they want to start a career they need help just um building a resume taking ESL classes which is English as a second language class Services poles is thankful are available thanks to this organization I actually am in school for a dental assistant which I'm so glad because I'm I'm about to be finished in May and hopefully fingers crossed I get to find a job in the dental assistant course Advocates say expanding funding to provide more access to resources like the ones offered in the center could be a good start to closing the pay Gap and a closer snap to giving Latinas the equity they deserve for NJ Spotlight news I'm Melissa Rose Cooper